"'You've been with generations of them, as they grew and lived and suffered and died; but to you it hasn't been so long.'"
-Poul Anderson, "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth" IN Anderson, Time Patrol (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 333-465 AT 1934, p. 409.
For Jack Havig's perception of a woman in a historical period that he visits, see Innocence And Knowledge.
By visiting a family over several years, Jack sees the young woman growing. By visiting a line of descent over several decades, Carl sees generations passing. But Jack and Carl experience weeks and months, not years or decades. That is what it would be like to be a time traveler.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Hmmm, unless a time traveler deliberately stays PUT for years or decades he can't EXPERIENCE other times except as days and months. That makes sense. And we do see Patrol agents who were posted to milieus where they lived for years. Such as the Dane who was the Patrol's agent in Norman Sicily.
Sean
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