A Time Patrol team comes to erect a shelter for Wanda who will arrive on her timecycle inside the shelter the following day:
"The Patrol team came late on a moonless night, to do their work as fast and quietly as possible and then disappear. Local folk would soon know that another marvelous thing had happened, but best not have it occur in their sight. Always minimize impact." (p. 193)
They remind me of the FBI in John Grisham's novels: identify and locate a suspect, then move in in large numbers for heavy surveillance with sophisticated equipment while remaining completely invisible to the suspect and his neighbors. (And without any sense of humor.) The Patrol must remain as invisible as possible throughout history before AD 19352.
The FBI and the Patrol are two institutionalized custodians of the status quo.
(I like the pictures of mammoth hunters.)
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Most of the time we NEED ":..institutionalized custodians of the status quo." Because the only realistically likely alternative is anarchy, chaos, rampant feuds and vendettas, etc.
And I've been wondering how you can hunt animals as big, dangerous, and smart as mammoths. It must have needed organized, disciplined teamwork under decisive leaders for mammoth hunts to succeed.
Ad astra! Sean
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