Tuesday, 11 March 2014

The History Of The Eyrie

Three short stories and one long novel by Poul Anderson describe the Maurai Federation that becomes the dominant world power in the aftermath of the War of Judgment. Anderson's There Will Be Time (New York, 1973) additionally reveals that, in the twenty second century, while the Federation is beginning in the Pacific, one of the new nations that are growing in North America, in the former Wisconsin, is run by time travelers who intend to gather strength over a few centuries, then to overthrow the Maurai and restore white supremacy.

Caleb Wallis, the Sachem, knows that his time-traveling organization, the Eyrie, will still exist under his control two hundred years later. "He had met himself then..." (p. 90).

The Eyrie Plan
Phase One: to build the Eyrie's strength in Wisconsin for two hundred years until the powers of its rulers can no longer be concealed, or passed off as a local superstition, because Maurai agents are spreading through North America.
Phase Two: to relocate to a mostly underground base with advanced technology, including nuclear power, during the era of general revolt against Maurai dominance; to use time travel to multiply a military force, each traveler doubling back repeatedly to overwhelm the enemy.
Phase Three: a pastoralized planet with Eyrie men remolding humanity from within "...the fabulous engines..." (p. 91) that Wallis has glimpsed further uptime. He will be old by the end of Phase One but hopes that time travelers from a grateful future will reward him with restored youth and immortality.

When time traveler Jack Havig decides to wage war against the Eyrie, he reconnoiters the post-Maurai period so what does he learn and does it enable him to sabotage the Eyrie Plan?

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