Thursday, 12 September 2019

The Work Of The Time Patrol

Dard Kelm, born 9573 A.D., instructs Time Patrol recruits from the period, 1850-2000:

they will work mostly in their own periods unless they become Unattached;

their lives will be ordinary most of the time but they will always be on call;

they will have good pay, protection, interesting holidays and worthwhile work;

sometimes, they will help troubled time travelers;

occasionally, they themselves will travel to other times to apprehend political, military or economic conquistadors;

sometimes, instead of rectifying events, the Patrol tries, in later periods, to influence history back in the right direction.

(I would like to know how that last part works.)

The crisis in Part Six of The Shield Of Time is perhaps an occasion when not only Unattached agents but also ordinary members must be deployed in order to restore the Danellian timeline.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

And stories like "Delenda Est" and "The Only Game in Town" also give us examples of how the Patrol nudged history back into the right path.

And I noted how the jacket cover for this Anderson book you chose for an illustration used pre-decimal British monetary units: 13 shillings and six pence.

Ad astra! Sean