How often do we see Manse Everard alone in his New York apartment? After returning from the Time Patrol Academy, he must read a dozen newspapers a day to look for indications of unauthorized time travel. What indications? He has been trained to spot them but we are not told what they are. Is unauthorized time travel that common? Or is he being given make-work until he initiates the sequence of events that will cause him to be promoted to Unattached status? He is alone and restless in his apartment when, instead of the newspapers, he reads the "...collection of Victorian and Edwardian stories..." (Time Patrol, p. 18) that does in fact generate his first job.
We learn that the apartment includes a study where a dummy computer conceals Patrol technology that seems to be voice-controlled:
"'Give me the file to present date on Specialist Wanda May Tamberly,' he ordered, adding sufficient information to identify." (The Shield Of Time, p. 177)
This passage presents nearly three pages of Everard alone in the apartment whereas usually when we see him there he is receiving a guest and, when that guest is Carl Farness, Carl narrates so that we cannot before or afterwards see Everard alone. By phone, Everard arranges to meet Wanda in San Francisco at three o'clock the following afternoon. Next day, he works till dusk in the apartment before going to city headquarters to check out a hopper and jump back in time to three o'clock in San Francisco. However, we are not told the nature of the work that kept him in his apartment into the evening.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I didn't think it was that implausible for a tyro Time Patrol agent to be FIRST assigned to searching for hints of unauthorized time travel in newspapers or magazines. It would be done not only to look for REAL signs of time travel but also to test how patiently and conscientiously an agent would do handling the duller but necessary tasks of the Time Patrol.
Sean
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