In Poul Anderson's Time Patrol series, each new timeline is identical with the previous one except for any changes caused either by time travelers or by quantum fluctuations. Thus, if a Time Patrol agent spent a day in the far past, then traveled forward into a now deleted timeline, then, although he has been deleted with that timeline, he still exists for that day in the far past. It follows that some of his fellow agents should be able to travel to that day, prevent him from traveling forward into the deleted timeline and instead transport him forward with them into the current timeline. Thus, the Patrol should be able to re-recruit agents lost in deleted timelines. To the rescued agent, little will have changed. He had expected to return futureward along the Danellian timeline and does this, the only difference being that he is escorted by fellow agents.
Far from contravening its own Prime Directive by doing this, the Patrol would rescue some of its members, maintain its strength and counteract one detrimental effect of a deletion.
13 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
And, in "Delenda Est" we do see Manse and other surviving Patrol agents organizing rescue missions like that. It was also said that not all "mislaid" agents were retrieved and the Patrol simply had to accept that losses happened. And of course there would be losses from sheer accidents or bad luck.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Manse etc rescued Patrollers trapped in the Carthaginian timeline before they deleted that timeline but wrote off any that they couldn't rescue from there. I am talking about rescuing Patrollers while they were in the past before they traveled forward into the Carthaginian timeline.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And I think Manse and his colleagues did that as well.
Ad astra! Sean
Theoretically, -all- Time Patrol agents are in the remote past, because they train at the Academy, before the evolution of humans... 8-).
Mr Stirling,
That is right. So, if a Patrol agent has traveled into a deleted timeline and been deleted with it, then his colleagues could travel to the last time that he was known to have existed in the past, to the end of his training at the Academy if necessary, and ask him to accompany them into the future. Thus, they would be able to retrieve/rescue/recover deleted agents. But, as I understand it, they do not do things like this because they don't want to meddle with their pasts. It is understandable that they accept the deaths of their colleagues but I think that they might want to recover those that have been "deleted."
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But you have argued that "deleted" timelines were not snuffed out, they became inaccessible to the Patrol. Which means agents stranded in such timelines had to be accepted as lost. And it is forbidden, as you said, for agents to meddle with their pasts in the way you speculated about.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
It is indeed forbidden but I question the prohibition. IMO, anyone stranded in a deleted timeline does not simply cease to exist but lives out the rest of his life within the "deleted" timeline. But, in the past of the current timeline, he still exists, e.g., during his training at the Academy. He COULD be contacted, e.g., at the end of his training, and brought forward into the current timeline. Thus, the Patrol would not lose an agent because of the deletion.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But for agents to attempt extricating stranded officers the way you suggest runs into a massive difficulty: doing prevents the trainees from living the lives recorded of them prior to being stranded in "deleted" universe. I see enormous difficulties and risks in such a maneuver, so much so that the Danellians would probably personally intervene to prevent any such rescues.
A better possibility would be for stranded agents stuck in a "deleted" timeline to go back to the Time Patrol academy in the past of their new timelines. On their own and with no help from any other agents trying to rescue them. And doing so would not annul their past lives.
Or, is it possible the the Patrol academy does not exist in the pasts of deleted universes?
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The lodge and the Academy exist far in the past of the Carthaginian timeline but the stranded agents would need a time machine to reach either of these places and, if they have such a machine, then they are not stranded.
To avoid altering the life of an agent to be rescued, his colleagues would have to rescue him from the precise moment at which he had set off into the deleted timeline. Thus, the rest of his life in the current timeline would remain unaltered.
Paul.
Sean,
Traveling back to the lodge, then to the Academy, from the altered 1960 is precisely what Everard and Van Sarawak do but they must then organize the counter-intervention against the Neldorians.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
But I still think the Danellians would PROHIBIT any attempts by other Patrol agents to rescue colleagues stranded in "deleted" timelines if they had not thought of using any time cycles they had to go to either that lodge near Gibraltar Falls or the Academy.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I am sure that the Danellians would prohibit. They are very sensitive about any unauthorized tampering.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
And exceptions would be rare, such as the case seen in "The Only Game In Town." Because a Mongol/Chinese discovery and settlement of at least the western parts of North America would have aborted the timeline leading to the Danellians.
Ad astra! Sean
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