The Morennian Triumph and the Chorite Heresiarchy not only are in a different timeline from Technic civilization but also are at a much later date in their timeline.
The fact that the past can be changed means that other timelines, like that of Technic civilization, could be generated.
Also, 4N dimensions, with N as the total number of particles in the universe, give more than enough space for multiple timelines, even including the Old Phoenix multiverse, to coexist in different parts of the multidimensional totality.
However, the Danellians and the Time Patrol exist in a part of the totality that comprises not many coexistent timelines but one mutable timeline.
The Patrol language, Temporal, has tenses both for time travel and for variable reality. Even in English, by applying logic, we can discuss the relationships between timelines whether or not all of those timelines are regarded as existent. Thus, a time traveler with memories of World War II who arrives in 1938 and somehow prevents World War II can be regarded either as a macrocosmic quantum fluctuation or as a traveler from timeline 1 (with a World War II) arriving in timeline 2 (with no World War II). Timeline 1 can either precede "timeline 2" along a second temporal dimension or be regarded as a metaphysical fiction. There is more than one way to save the appearances.
2 comments:
You can talk about time travel in English but you have to be very careful. English has a "built in" view of the structure of the universe that renders it rather tricky -- for example, English assumes that simultaneity is possible, that space is "flat" in all directions, and that time is invariable.
Dear Mr. Stirling,
And I recall how you stated some time ago that if a FTL drive possible, then time traveling would also be likely. An idea I admit makes me uneasy!
Sean
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