"'...I feel I am worth most in the field, my field, and will be until I am too old and feeble.'" (Time Patrol, p. 638)
Do Time Patrol agents get old and feeble when their "...antithanatic treatment...will arrest the aging process..." (p. 345)?
In any case, Janne's preference for fieldwork is the reason why she ends her relationship with Unattached agent Manse Everard on p. 639, which is appropriate because a passage narrated by Wanda Tamberly begins on p. 641. Between them, on pp. 639-640, is a prayer to Mary who incorporates elements of the goddess Nehalennia, a role played by Janne.
We might say that this is the feminine quarter of the Time Patrol universe. The series has come a long way from the original four short stories, each focused on Manse Everard and on one male colleague.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
It's possible what Janne meant by "...until I am too old and feeble" is "until I am too mentally and emotionally tired." Alternately, of course, this might have been a slip by Anderson, momentarily forgetting the Time Patrol's antithanatic treatment.
Sean
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