The Time Traveller:
initiates a discussion that includes the idea of a visit to the Battle of Hastings;
sits on, not in, the Time Machine;
fast forwards, then rewinds, the rest of the universe;
inaccurately describes this process as motion along the temporal dimension;
causes the outer narrator to contemplate "curious possibilities";
encounters devolved humanity;
traverses the entire future history of life on Earth before returning to the nineteenth century.
Time Patrolmen:
visit historical battles;
sit on their timecycles;
address the "curious possibilities";
encounter the next stage of evolution after humanity.
Jack Havig fast forwards and rewinds the universe.
Wardens and Rangers literally move along the temporal dimension inside their corridors.
Martin Saunders traverses the entire future and past histories of the cosmos and thus returns to 1973.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I've been wondering what a "de-evolved" or degenerated human race might be like. Would such people truly be like Wells' brutish Morlocks or "adults with the minds of children" Eloi?
I don't think Poul Anderson ever shows us what he thinks a degenerated human race might be like. He shows us speculation about how humans might ADAPT to different kings of planets, such as the mostly aquatic descendants of the largely oceanic world seen in "The Horn Of Time The Hunter." But those are ADAPTATIONS, not degenerations.
Sean
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