when he is Ensign Flandry, his mentor, Max Abrams, gives him a reading list of Machiavelli and others;
much later, still a Captain but a confidante of the Emperor, he has at least one long conversation with Chunderban Desai. (Scroll down.)
Flandry learns that:
the Empire will fall;
its existence can be prolonged;
preparations can begin now for the subsequent rebuilding.
Since an inhabited planet should be economically self-sufficient, not every world will revert to barbarism when the Empire falls. For example, we read of Atheia.
In their different timeline, perhaps the Time Patrol do not need to understand history because their only role is to preserve it.
If these two series were to be connected, they would not fit into a single timeline but a Time Patrolman might find himself in the Technic History timeline, then have to identify the point of divergence - some time in the twenty first century?
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
I agree, the more FORTUNATE planets should be self sufficient in the resources to be found in their solar systems that they should not necessarily collapse into barbarism after the Empire fell. But wars and civil wars could still bring down civilization on many such worlds. Other planets, like Nike, might be so metal poor that a sudden disruption in interstellar trade could be deeply damaging to them.
Other planets, such as Unan Besar, might depend so much advanced technology for survival that if that technology is damaged, a catastrophic crash comes. So, if something happens to disrupt the manufacturing and supply of the antitoxin pills the people of Unan Besar need for survival, then everyone will die. And so on and on.
Ad astra! Sean
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