Introducing "Flight to Forever"

Poul Anderson, "Flight to Forever" IN Anderson, Past Times (New York, 1984), pp. 207-288.

In "The Little Monster," (1974) Jerry Parker time travels from 1995 whereas, in "Flight to Forever," (1950) Martin Saunders time travels from 1973.

Saunders is a big man, a pulp hero. Eve Lang is a beautiful woman, a pulp heroine. MacPherson, blinking owlishly behind thick lenses, is a pulp inventor/(mad) scientist. Sam Hull, cheerful and practical, is a pulp hero's companion.

Saunders and Hull enter the time projector:

"Through the single porthole [Saunders] saw Eve waving. He waved back and then, with an angry motion, flung down the main switch.

"The machine shimmered, blurred, and was gone. Eve drew a shuddering breath and turned back to MacPherson." (p. 211)

 

The first two sentences are narrated from Saunders' pov whereas the third is narrated from a pov outside the time projector. The fourth sentence is probably Eve's pov. Either she feels the shuddering breath and turns to MacPherson or he sees her draw a breath and turn toward him.

 

Yet another time journey has begun. Anything can happen. The author is free to imagine any state of the world in 2073 - assuming that the projector does go when it should. If it does not, then even more possibilities open up.

 

After a double space between paragraphs to indicate a change of scene, the narrative returns to Saunder's pov:

 

"Grayness swirled before them, and the drone of the projectors filled the machine with an enormous song." (ibid.)

 

Unlike the Time Traveler and Jack Havig, Saunders and Hull do not see the external world flashing past. Is that "grayness" what the Doctor calls "the Time Vortex"?