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open a bottle of champagne, passing around a bowl of peanuts … or something.’
    ‘You need me to calculate to a particular day?’ Bob looked at him. ‘I am unable to guarantee that kind of precision, Liam. I can attempt a best-guess calculation, but we may arrive days, weeks or even months before or even
after
the origin time of the beam. This will be an imprecise calculation.’
    ‘Well, let’s get as close to the beginning as we can. Even if we miss it being turned on, surely one of
them
will be hanging around to make sure that beam thing is working properly, right?’
    ‘That is a reasonable assumption.’
    ‘All right, then … you better start working on your numbers.’
    Bob nodded. ‘I will commence calculating.’ He closed his eyes.
    And, while he was doing that, Liam decided he was going to head on down to the market at the bottom of Farringdon Street and get in whatever useful things he could find for their trip to biblical times. As he headed out through their low door, he decided to pay a visit to the library too, to see if he could find anything about the temple itself; a history of the building perhaps, with information about the sacred ground beneath it.
    ‘This is not a suitable place,’ said Bob.
    Liam nodded. The density graph was spiking every few seconds. He looked at the grainy, pixelated image they’d just snapped from the past. It wasn’t showing them very much: asection of sun-bleached stone wall and a long hard-edged shadow cast diagonally across it. As far as Liam could make out, the shadow could have been cast by a person, a camel, a palm tree … a large dancing banana … for all they knew. And there was something blurred on the left of the low-resolution image, perhaps someone’s robe or cape swishing past. Whatever it was, this narrow backstreet in the upper city was just as busy as the last half a dozen locations they’d density-tested.
    They’d also been experimenting with different times of day. This current time-stamp was at dawn. Their version of seven in the morning. They’d tried midnight, three in the morning, midday – Liam had bet midday would have been quiet. Surely, with the sun at its highest and hottest, things would slow down a little? But no. It seemed Jerusalem was a city that never settled down.
    ‘Seriously? Don’t these Judaeans ever sleep?’
    ‘We may have picked a busy period in their year, Liam.’ Bob turned towards the webcam. ‘Computer-Bob, reference the historical database.’
    > I am already checking, Bob … one moment … one moment.
    Liam grinned. ‘What’s it like talking to a copy of yourself?’
    Bob frowned. ‘Which version is the
copy
, Liam … and which is the original?’ He frowned. ‘My AI is inherited from the first organic unit. The one that was incapacitated by Kramer and his men. As was computer-Bob’s. As such, we can both be considered “descendants” of the original AI. However, I have acquired additional first-generation memories, which computer-Bob has inherited and –’
    ‘All right, all right. Clearly a sore point. Sorry I asked.’ He patted the support unit like a scolded pet. ‘I was just attempting a bit of light-hearted banter there. My mistake, Mr Sulky Pants.’
    Bob cocked his head and smiled – unpleasantly. All tombstone teeth and pink gums. ‘As Maddy would say … 
goofing around
?’
    ‘Yeah … something like that.’
    The dialogue box on the monitor in front of them flickered to life.
    > Information: the time-stamp you have chosen coincides with a Judaean religious holiday called ‘Passover’. The religious holiday lasts for a week. In first-century Judaea, the city of Jerusalem is a major attraction for the local population to celebrate Passover. Expect this location to be busy.
    ‘Great.’ Liam sighed. ‘So maybe we’re going to have to head further out.’
    > That is recommended.
    ‘All right, then, I suppose we’ll have to take it outside the city.