Embedding Themselves In The Past

Although Carl Farness flitted through decades of the fourth century visiting successive generations of his own Gothic descendants, other Time Patrol agents have lived full time long term in the past. In 49 AD, Jens Ulstrup had lived for twelve years among the Langobardi as Domar the trader, exiled by a family feud. Family feuds are convenient explanations of wandering far from home in the ancient world. How often does Everard tell this story? Janne Floris lived from 22 to 37 AD among the Frisii, married and had two children.

Anderson could have written a historical novel featuring a supporting character whom readers of his other works would recognize as an embedded time traveler. Imagine a future history series and a historical fiction series bound together by time travel. The nearest approach to this is Julian May's Pliocene Exile Tetralogy and Galactic Milieu Trilogy which are bound together by a contemporary sf novel and also by time travel. Anderson locates his Maurai future history as one of the periods covered by his time travel novel, There Will Be Time. But I would really have liked to have seen some known Time Patrol agents showing up in one of Anderson's historical novels.