Copied from "Logic of Time Travel" here:
When
James Bond gathers intelligence during his mission to Japan or when
Dominic Flandry gathers intelligence by penetrating the Merseian
Roidhunate, the gathered intelligence is accessible to Bond's or
Flandry's colleagues after, not before, it has been gathered but how
does this work in the Time Patrol?
Herbert Ganz, based
in the 1850s, suggests that the Patrol can begin to record the history
of the Gothic milieu by retrieving oral stories and poems from the Dark
Ages. To this end, Carl Farness, based in the 1930s, spends a lot of
time in the period 300-372. Before Carl and his wife have moved to the
1930s from later in the twentieth century and before Carl's first
journey to 300, Manse Everard, Unattached agent, reviews Carl's proposed
mission with him in 1980. At this stage, Everard agrees that Ganz's
proposal is:
"'...an opening wedge, the single such wedge we've found, for getting the history of that milieu recorded.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (New York, 2006), pp. 333-465 AT p. 356.
In
any other context, if the history has not yet been recorded, then the
historians and their colleagues do not yet have access to the history
but this is the Time Patrol. When Carl returns from 372 to the 1930s
with all his data recorded, then those data become accessible to any
Patrol member who may need them including Ganz in the 1850s, Carl
Farness in the 1930s and Everard in 1980. However, the data must be
withheld from Carl pre-mission so that he will be able to gather those
data without prejudice.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
And did Manse Everard already know Carl had gained that knowledge? Or was it thought wiser by higher ups in the Patrol for Manse to not yet know that?
Trying to make sense of time traveling is mind numbing!
Sean
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