Fifty Thousand Years

The Shield Of Time, PART THREE.

"When the last graduate departed, the builders took [the Time Patrol Academy] down, eliminating every trace of its existence. But that would not happen for another fifty thousand years." (p. 130)

This is extraordinary. The demolition of the Time Patrol Academy is described in the past tense and indeed it happened in 31,225,389 BC, which is past to us. However, it will happen fifty thousand years after the date of the action in this chapter. I know that this is a straightforward consequence of chronokinesis. Nevertheless, fifty thousand years is a long time, whether forwards or backwards, but the Time Patrol can make that length of time either past or future just by pressing a switch. That is bound to affect anyone's perception of the significance of fifty thousand years.

Gardens, lawns, bowers and buildings have "...remained inviolate..." (p. 130) through many millennia. I imagine that they have also grown and changed during that time. The Academy has "...affected the entire local ecology..." (p. 128) but not enough to matter long term. When Wanda uses the English word, "camera," in a Temporal conversation, she must explain it to Sequeira as: "'An optical recording device.'" (ibid.) He will have to learn about such "'...crude gadgets...'" (ibid.) when he works in the twentieth century. A man from the future trains in the past to work in the author's present.