"Everard nodded. That was an age of bandits who had 'already' given the Patrol a lot of work."
-Poul Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006), p. 221.
"...a Carthaginian party was riding toward the battle around the eagles. And at their head were two men with the height and craggy features of Neldor. They wore G.I. armor, but each of them held a slim-barreled gun." (p. 225)
To win a man's confidence, then engineer his murder! Treacherous. Futuristic home improvements confirm that Phrontes and Himilco are time travelers - as do G.I. armor and guns!
When, about fifty five years ago, I read that the two-hundred-fifth millennium was "...an age of bandits...," I accepted and quite liked the idea but it requires elucidation. Bandits hide in hills and attack travelers. The 205th millennium is not a mountain range on the fringe of civilization but the period from 204,001 to 205,000 AD with technology that includes time machines. It must have more in it than gangs of bandits?
This is another of Poul Anderson's tantalizing hints. He economically tells us just enough for his immediate story purposes but no more.
4 comments:
Paul:
In the phrase "G.I. armor, but each of them held a slim-barreled gun," I took the "but" to mean that the gun was incongruous with the armor (as well as with the time period) -- and thus that PA used "G.I." in this case to mean "the same sort as any local soldier." So the Neldorians, I thought, were making SOME effort to look ordinary and blend in, BUT they did carry outlandish weapons. Otherwise, why not use "and" about armor and weaponry?
My guess is that "an age of bandits" is one in which law enforcement can't keep up with criminals, whether because a societal breakdown has reduced the ranks and sapped the will of the police, or because rapid changes in technology mean the crooks keep getting their hands on devices and weapons the cops can't match -- or both, of course.
David,
I took "G.I. armor" to mean US G.I. armor but I obviously could be wrong.
Interesting take on "age of bandits." Sounds like we need a novel set then.
Paul.
Andre Norton's *Star Rangers* (alternate and, to my mind, BETTER title *The Last Planet*) is set in a period of societal breakdown. Indeed, it's the coming of the Long Night, though Norton doesn't use that term.
"The First Galactic Empire was breaking up. Dictators, Emperors, Consolidators wrested the rulership of their own or kindred solar systems from Central Control. Space pirates raised flags and recruited fleets to gorge on spoil plundered from this wreckage. It was a time in which only the ruthless could flourish.
"Here and there a man, or a group of men, tried vainly to dam the flood of disaster and disunion. And, notable among these last-ditch fighters who refused to throw aside their belief in the impartial rule of Central Control were the remnants of the Stellar Patrol, a law enforcement body whose authority had existed unchallenged for almost a thousand years. Perhaps it was because there was no longer any security to be found outside their own ranks that these men clung the closer to what seemed in the new age to be an outworn code of ethics and morals...."
Hi, David!
Very interesting! I MIGHT have read Norton's STAR RANGERS, but I'm not sure and, if so, it happened when I was a boy.
These quotes about the Stellar Patrol reminded me of Terra's Imperial Navy. To quote Lord Hauksberg from Chapter 1 of ENSIGN FLANDRY: "...and the last organization with high morale, the Navy..." makes me think the Navy could become something similar, under the right circumstances (including not letting logistics collapse). I'm also reminded of how Admiral Sir Thomas Walton, in WE CLAIM THESE STARS, is described as one of the last wholly brave and honorable men in all Terra's Empire.
Sean
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