Wednesday, 6 October 2021

The Patrol's Problems

Manse Everard says, I think in "Star of the Sea," that the Time Patrol never has a dearth of problems but:

the twentieth century, when he is based, is a finite span of time and a very small segment of history;

milieu HQ in London exists for only twenty years, 1890-1910;

Time Patrolmen have indefinitely extended lifespans;

therefore, twenty years will be a very short fragment of any agent's career;

Records in milieu HQ must recount everything that Patrol agents experience and do in the twentieth century.

The only complicating factor is that, whenever a Patrol agent travels pastward, then returns futureward, he might arrived in an altered timeline.

3 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I would say, rather, that milieu HQ records only what was reported by Patrol agents, plus would be known from other sources. With the best will in the world I don't think any Patrol agent could report everything that might be significant from his missions. A good deal of ordinary, every day trivia will, of necessity, be omitted. And I'm sure that sometimes a truly important datum is omitted from reports.

And that's from agents who try to report honestly!`Humans being what they are, I'm some less than honest reports were submitted.

Ad astra! Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

And agents don’t have indefinite lifespans. They just don’t age. How many times has Everard dodged death by a whisker?

Furthermore, the twentieth century is a potential target for tens of thousands of years of possible time criminals.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

Good points! How MANY times can even the cleverest and luckiest Patrol agents dodge those proverbial bullets? The more they take on dangerous assignments the more likely their luck runs out.

And there were so many times and incidents in the 20th century that temporal criminals would be tempted to meddle with. Everyone from people trying to prevent the assassination of Achduke Francis Ferdinand to others trying to make sure Pope John Paul II was assassinated.

Ad astra! Sean