If they were part of the self-correction (i. e., of the space-time continuum) what did that do to the notion of free will? Or was free will part of t… - Connie Willis

What's going on?" I whispered to Gina.
"Management is proving beyond a shadow of a doubt they don't have enough to do," she murmured back. "So they've invented a new acronym.

The continuum had somehow managed to correct the incongruity, pairing off lovers like the last act of a Shakespearean comedy, though just how it had managed it wasn’t clear. What was clear was that it had wanted us out of the way while it was doing whatever it was doing. So it had done the time-travel equivalent of locking us in our rooms.

They're absolutely necrotic, aren't they?" Colin whispered behind his order of service.
"It's late twentieth century atonal," Dunworthy whispered back. "It's supposed to sound dreadful.