According to Sandra Miesel's Chronology of Poul Anderson's Psychotechnic History, the hyperdrive was invented in 2784. According to Duncan in "Entity":
"'We discovered the means of interstellar travel only a few decades ago...'" (p. 170)
Like "Gypsy," set in 2815, and "Star Ship," set in 2875, "Entity" should be set less than a century after 2784, in fact considerably less: "...a few decades..." suggests either less or little more than half a century. Miesel places "Entity" with "Symmetry" in the 3100s. If, as its characters claim, there is a fabulous Galactic civilization with Galactic Coordinators at the time of "Star Ship," then this story should be set considerably later than 2875.
That time-scale of "...only a few decades..." fits with Captain Nielsen's mission statement:
"'We're supposed to be getting a sketchy pre-exploration idea of what is to be found in this part of the Galaxy...'" (p. 169)
We remember the Grand Survey in Poul Anderson's Technic History and "Their five year mission...to boldly go..."
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Again, my thought was that inconsistencies like these contributed to Anderson's dissatisfaction with the Psychotechnic series.
Ad astra! Sean
Yes, it's very much an earlier work. I know the feeling.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Exactly, early works of Anderson.
Ad astra! Sean
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