-Poul Anderson, Flandry's Legacy (New York, 2012), p. 322.
Magnusson's revolt is a pivotal event. If it succeeds, then humanity will be Merseian-dominated in two generations -
"...the envoy in the hidden place..." (p. 439) says:
"'...Your grandsons will belong to the first generation of the new humanity.'" (p. 441)
Eerie! - but, fortunately, it is prevented.
What is remarkable about the quotation from p. 322 is that it is spoken not by Manson Everard of the Time Patrol but by Dominic Flandry of the Terran Empire. The Patrol guards pivotal events but obviously they can occur in any timeline.
We know that the Patrol does not operate in the Terran Empire timeline and we are not told of any other time travelers operating in that timeline. In fact, we should assume that there are none. The premise of the series is a single history without any extra-temporal interventions. But if, against all expectations, there were some time travelers in that timeline, then we could expect them to swarm around the lives of Manuel Argos, Hans Molitor and Olaf Magnusson like bees around honey.
5 comments:
Hi, Paul!
Interesting thought, the idea that the Technic History timeline is among those guarded by the Time Patrol! But, I agree, "The premise of the series is a single history without any extra-temporal interventions." We certainly see nothing in the Time Patrol stories which can be indubitably linked to the Technic History. IF there had been, the Patrol would certainly be kept very busy trying to prevent time travelers from meddling with the lives of Nicholas van Rijn, Manuel Argos, Hans Molitor, Dominic Flandry, and Magnusson.
Hmmm, if, in the Old Phoenix stories, we had seem some indication of the Time Patrol, that would open up the Technic History to interference by time travelers. Because of how we see Nicholas van Rijn in the Old Phoenix inn in "House Rule."
Another possibility is that the Technic History might have been snipped off from the line of development leading to the Danellians when the Patrol corrected an intervention which had started a series of events leading to the Polesotechnic League and the Empire. You argued in some of your earlier notes that the alternate timelines "rectified" by the Patrol did not simply disappear or ceased to exist--rather, they became inaccessible to the Time Patrol and Danellians.
Howerver, I prefer to think of the Technic History as a series which had not been interfered with by time travelers.
Sean
Sean,
"...the Technic History timeline...among those guarded by the Time Patrol..." Remember, though, that the Patrol guards only a single timeline. If Everard found himself in the Terran Empire, then he would try (in his terminology) to "delete" it.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
I agree! However reluctant and saddened, I agree Manse Everard would have been duty bound to "delete" the timeline leading to the Technic History. Altho you have argued that such "deleted" timelines didn't cease to exist, they became inaccessible to the Patrol and Danellians.
Frankly, I'm glad Poul Anderson did not try to link the Technic History with the Time Patrol. I have strong doubts that two series so very different from each other could have been successfully spliced together. More likely, any such attempts might have damaged or ruined both. My view is that Asimov damaged his Robot and Foundation series when he tried, unconvincingly, to link them up.
It was enough to get a glimpse of Nicholas van Rijn at the Old Phoenix.
Sean
And the Technic History is already an excellent amalgamation of the League and the Empire series - a far better job than Asimov did.
Hi, Paul!
Quite true, the Polesotechnic League and Terran Empire stories were originally two separate series. By a fortunate accident Anderson linked them when he mentioned Nicholas van Rijn in THE PLAGUE OF MASTERS (being more than 100 pages long, that story is best thought of as a novel). And this linking up was done early enough in the writing of both series that Anderson was able to splice them together with a surprising minimum of inconsistencies (some of which he later removed by revising a few of the stories).
And the Technic History is better than Asimov's Robot/Foundation stories both as literature and as a fictional "history."
Sean
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