The Stone Eagle is both a sign and a meeting place for the myriad of odd ones from the future and the past, including Martin and his embedded AI, Artie. In this second adventure, they're back in ancient Mesopotamia, still trying to restore Martin's timeline.
“The odd ones from the future and the past,” she said, matter-of-factly. “The ones who taught us that the past and future are not one simple path but more like a basket full of loose threads. And all these threads are strung together with different starting points and different events, like knots, along the threads.”

Variants

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  1. “When the Stone Eagle Flies” by Bill Johnson, in Asimov’s Science Fiction, June 2016.
    2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . written by Bill Johnson