Anachronisms

"'But I have experimental verification,' said the Time Traveller.

"'It would be remarkably convenient for the historian,' the Psychologist suggested. 'One might travel back and verify the accepted account of the Battle of Hastings, for instance!'

"'Don't you think you would attract attention?' said the Medical Man. 'Our ancestors had no great tolerance for anachronisms.'"

-HG Wells, The Time Machine (London, 1973), 1, p. 11.

"...odd potentialities...practical incredibleness, the curious possibilities of anachronism and of utter confusion..."

-ibid., 3, p. 17.

"'We can't allow an extra anachronism on the scene. That could scramble events beyond any repair.'"

-The Shield Of Time, PART FOUR, 1990 A. D., p. 184.

Anachronism, utter confusion, scrambled events: Wells realized the mess that he was leaving for later writers - L. Sprague de Camp, Ward Moore and Poul Anderson.

Appropriately, Time Patrol agents often meet in anachronistic settings:

"Entering, Everard found the interior cool, dim, anachronistic. Mahogany, marble, embroidered upholstery, deep carpet, maroon hangings, leather-bound books with gold-stamped French titles, molecularly perfect copies from Toulouse-Lautrec and Seurat, hadn't much business nowabouts, did they?"

-The Shield Of Time, PART TWO, 1987 A. D., p. 66.

"The hotel where Cynthia was to make a reservation and meet him stood on the Left Bank, a charming, slightly dilapidated anachronism where croissants for breakfast were fresh-baked on the premises and the staff liked guests who were lovers...."

-The Shield Of Time, PART SIX, p. 283.

"They met downtown next morning, in the anachronistic opulence of the St. Francis Hotel lobby." (p. 430)