Although 300-302 covers only two years, it also informs us that Carl's intervention gains ten years of peace for his Goths. However, Jorith dies bearing Carl's son, Dagobert, after only one year. The following three narrative sections are headed:
2319
302-330
1980
Carl confers with a Time Patrol doctor on the Moon in 2319 and with Everard in New York in 1980. In the 302-330 period:
Dagobert's grandparents, Winnithar and Salvalindis, raise him;
the Wanderer visits occasionally;
Dagobert's son, Tharasmund, and King Geberic's son, Ermanaric, are born;
Dagobert becomes leader of the Teurings and leads them south.
So far, the history of Gothic migrations is on track. Readers know that the Teurings will have a showdown with Ermanaric.
8 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
IIRC, poor Jorith died from an aneurism bursting in her brain.
Ad astra! Sean
Right.
That wouldn't be easy even for 21st-century medicine to do anything about.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Too true! Our "modern" medical science still has so many gaps in our knowledge of what can be done. I sure as heck don't expect to see the "antithanatic" of WORLD WITHOUT STARS, invented about eight or ten years from now in that story. Or quick cloning of new limbs and organs.
Ad astra! Sean
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: eventually. I expect physical immortality about ten years after my demise... 8-).
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
That would be irony indeed, at our age.
Truthfully, I don't think indefinite prolongation of lifespans to be likely. But I can see something like the antisenescence of the Technic stories being possible, extending average lifespans in good health till about age 110.
Ad astra! Sean
Something that strikes me as more likely than either the abrupt ending of aging, or lifespans topping out at a bit more than a century and staying there, would be gradual biological advances that result in life expectancy at birth, or more valuably 'healthspan' from birth increasing by a year for every several years that pass. So in a millennium most people live a couple of centuries, and the lifespans continue to gradually increase.
Kaor, Jim!
I was trying to strike a balance between excessive optimism or pessimism. I can accept your suggestion as being theoretically possible. Albeit I still have strong doubts about human lifespans ever being drastically lengthened.
Ad astra! Sean
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