HG Wells's Time Traveler visits 802,701 AD, then sees the end of life on Earth, but, of necessity, skips past most of what happens in between.
In James Blish's "Beep"/The Quincunx Of Time, Service agents receive messages from their future but, beyond a certain point, the messages become incomprehensible.
Poul Anderson's Time Patrollers guard history but have little direct contact with Danellian civilization a million years hence.
Anderson's Wardens and Rangers wage war through history but are barred from the "time wardens" period in their future.
Anderson's Jack Havig supervises three "Phases" of the future but does not yet know whether the Star Masters or their successors have FTL or STL + time travel.
There is still an unknown future.
3 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I'm sure we have both wondered what we might do and see if we could travel thru time by technological means, as in the Time Patrol stories. I sort of lean to the immutable timeline we see in THERE WILL BE TIME, in which past events can't be changed, rather than the mutable timeline of the Patrol.
Btw, how would you categorize THE DANCER FROM ATLANTIS? That one also sticks in my mind because of the striking cover painting Frank Frazetta did for it. One of the best I've seen for any of Anderson's stories.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
Very good historical sf and circular causality paradox. I might reread it yet again.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Iow, DANCER shows us Anderson using the immutable timeline idea. It's worth rereading!
Ad astra! Sean
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