A Labyrinth of Histories (audio story)

A Labyrinth of Histories was a 2004 audio story in the Faction Paradox series.

Publisher's summary
PRIMER FOR THE SPIRAL POLITIC (POST-WAR EDITION)

6: MR SMITH

Era: Non-specific, sub-historical.

Technology: Irrelevant.

It's now acknowledged that the Great Houses were largely responsible for creating the current shape of history, not simply by interfering in major events (although they may have dabbled) but by engineering the entire framework of history as a single definite structure. What's less well-known is just how easy it is to access that structure's foundations.

Before the War, it was usual for Great House installations to be linked to the Houses' "records library", buried in the framework beneath normal time: though the War made these access-points a liability, many still exist, and encounters with the library's guardian aren't unknown...

Alt text
An arms race in under three minutes, courtesy of Cousin Shuncucker; the Godfathers make an unlikely wager; a criminal mastermind explains her grudge against the Faction, or at least one particular member; Justine gets blooded and learns the rules of the hunt; the minotaur in the library introduces himself; and the Great Houses send in the troops while the bearer of the Grandfather's shadow takes on the world.

Plot
to be added

Cast

 * Cousin Justine - Suzanne Proctor
 * Godfather Morlock - Ellis Pike
 * Godfather Sabbath - Keith Drinkel
 * Demetra Kine - Kate Dyson
 * Cousin Shuncucker - Linda Bartram
 * Emma James - Lena Rae
 * First Ordinary Selvynkesh - Matt Kelly
 * Second Ordinary Veeble - Chris Manville
 * Fiora - Emma Kilbey
 * Mr Smith - Scott Craig

Continuity

 * Mr Smith suggests that the death of President Umbaste was not, as was commonly believed, a suicide. (PROSE: The Book of the War)