In timeline beta, Pope Gregory IX did not exist and the medieval state won the conflict.
What is the connecting factor?
In timeline alpha, a strong Emperor, Frederick II, did not exist because his mother had been a posthumous daughter of Roger II. In timeline beta, the strong Pope, Gregory, did not exist because Ilaria di Gaetani, who should have been his mother, married someone else.
Lorenzo de Conti killed Roger in timeline alpha and married Ilaria in timeline beta. Further, in timeline beta, Lorenzo was the great-grandfather of Sir Giacomo de Mora, one of Frederick II's chief counsellors, his general against the Mongols and his ambassador to England.
Therefore, the Time Patrol has a new mission: to neutralize Lorenzo early in his career.
5 comments:
Hi, Paul!
And this was a TRAGEDY, being no fault of Lorenzo de Conti. It was random quantum chaos, not deliberate action by time criminals, which caused Lorenzo to become such a crucial nexus. Manse Everard and Wanda Tamberly LIKED Lorenzo and wanted to somehow save his life.
And, according to your argument that "deleted" timelines don't cease existing even after corrective action is taken by the Time Patrol, might not timelines alpha and beta continue to exist?
Sean
Sean,
My view is that the only way to make sense of the accounts in the Time Patrol series of temporal changes and deleted timelines is to say that there are two temporal dimensions at right angles to each other (just as there are three spatial dimensions). If we are in the Time Patrol/Danellians timeline and are contemplating the "deleted" timelines alpha and beta, then (I think) we find this situation: if we look back into the past of our timeline, then we see no alpha or beta just as, if we look outward in any dimension of space, then we see no alpha or beta. But, if we were able to look into the past of the second temporal dimension, then we would see the entire timeline beta from its beginning to its end and beyond it the entire timeline alpha from beginning to end. The inhabitants of those timelines would live from their births until their deaths without being snuffed out of existence at any intermediate moment.
Contemplating the temporal dimension of our timeline, it is true to say that there never was an alpha or a beta. But, in both alpha and beta, it is true to to say that there never was or will be a Danellian future.
I think that this concept becomes difficult only if we forget to think in terms of two temporal dimensions. In that case, we try to fit two or more alternative histories into a single four dimensional continuum and that can't work.
The different timelines are in sequence along the second temporal dimension just as the successive spatial states of the three dimensional universe are in sequence along our familiar temporal dimension.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
Many thanks for your comments about the problem posed by "deleted" timelines. I read your note twice and I think I understand it. Two temporal dimensions at right angles to each other, not one. And I like the idea of the inhabitants of those "deleted" timelines continuing to live. Much better than being arbitrarily snuffed out!
I think you discussed this with Poul Anderson in some of your letters to him--with PA agreeing you made good points he would need to keep in mind. A pity he died before writing any more Time Patrol stories incorporating your insights.
Sean
Sean,
Whenever Everard says something like (he didn't say this one, I'm just making it up as an example), "Keith was Cyrus the Great but 'now' he was not," the use of the word "now," or some equivalent, in inverted commas is a tacit recognition of a second temporal dimension. That is what "now" implies: a state changed from, a state changed to and a (temporal) relationship of before and after or of cause and effect between them. I think that I am just clarifying the meaning that is there already.
Paul.
Hi, Paul!
And this makes me wonder if Poul Anderson himself had had some similar thoughts along the lines you outlined. I think we see a hint of that in "Brave to be a King," when Denison commented he had been a long time away from home, even if it never happened--with Everard responding "It never happened" GRIMLY.
Sean
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