-Alan Moore, Swamp Thing: Earth To Earth (New York, 2002), p. 9, panel 5.
We are amused at the idea that there is a bureaucracy, or at least some kind of organization, behind the impersonal workings of nature and reality. The Rupert Bear universe has Elves of Autumn, Imps of Spring and a Clerk of the Weather.
Poul Anderson's Time Patrol has a similar role. On the one hand, the Patrol employs clerical office staff like Cynthia Denison. On the other hand, this same Patrol ensures that historical events occur on schedule. In particular, Manse Everard and Keith Denison work hard to bring it about that there is a Cyrus the Great. Further than that, the Patrol ensures that chaotic random quantum fluctuations are not allowed to prevent the evolution of an ordered cosmos. Without the Patrol, we would not exist.
3 comments:
The snake biting its own tail...
Come to think of it, the Mongol discovery of America in "The Only Game In Town" is effectively a quantum fluctuation change.
Kaor, Paul and Mr. Stirling!
Paul: And I was reminded of the HEROES IN HELL series, where we see Satan as a harassed bureaucrat being constantly outwitted by Julius Caesar and Augustus! Amusing, but not a thesis any Christian can believe. Satan being no where that easy to bamboozle.
Mr. Stirling: You are right. In fact, "The Only Game In Town" and its implications may well have led to what we see in THE SHIELD OF TIME.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment