The Nest II

Poul Anderson, "The Nest" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 71-111.

Continued from previous post:

The confusion continues. The Nazi speaks Norman French. Some readers might by now be getting impatient with the persistent, unexplained anachronisms.
A familiar Anderson fight scene leaves the Nazi dead but the rescued runaway slave does not respond to the narrator's questions in French, English, Latin, Greek or The Men's language.

So far, then, it seems that human beings speaking many languages and originating in different periods have come to an environment where there are sabretooths and dinosaurs; in other words, they have time traveled into the far past. If we can make deductions while reading action scenes, then we might formulate this hypothesis and, as we continue to read, we will find that it is confirmed.

The narrator is attacked by the Nazi's Hunnish friends, then helped by his friend, Don Miguel with a long Spanish name, until the fight is interrupted by Olga Rakitin of the Martian Soviet who clearly has some authority in the Nest. Here we have a character from a future with interplanetary travel. Readers of Anderson's Time Patrol series are used to characters from historical periods rubbing shoulders with future colonists of Mars or Venus.

Meanwhile, we have learned that the narrator is part Neanderthal but identifies as a Man and is called Trebuen. Next on the scene are "...the cops..." (p. 79), marching in helmets and armor, carrying short swords and shields and led by a centurion. Getting the history right, Trebuen (and Anderson) informs us that they are not Romans but barbarians though with military discipline.

The Nest is a town with every kind of inhabitant and building and even a muezzin calling Moslems to prayer. We have reached the twelfth page of the story but as yet have neither encountered the ruler, Duke Hugo, nor read any explanation of the time travel - assuming that that is indeed what is going down. However, we remain interested enough to continue reading.