H.G. Wells' Time Traveller arrives in 802,701 A.D. not by any kind of motion, despite Wells' use of such language, but by stationary time dilation that inexplicably makes him both invisible and intangible. Poul Anderson's characters arrive in the system of the planet Gwydion by multiple instantaneous quantum jumps. Thus, they do not traverse the distances between points in space, do not really move through space, and are understandably invisible and intangible to any observer that is not in phase with them although they also generate a hyperspace wake instantaneously detectable within a light-year. Both Wells' "time travel" and Anderson's "hyperspace" involve the danger of arriving in a space already occupied by another material object. These two modes of travel are similar in description and also in the use made of them by their authors. Both transport the protagonist(s) to an unfamiliar environment where they must deduce what is really going on: Morlocks in the Dark Nights and the Night Face of the Gwydiona.
2 comments:
Interesting comparison. The protagonist who is literally "out of synch" with the world they find themselves in is a very old trope, but there's a parallel.
"Stranger in a Strange Land" dates back a ways, after all; Exodus 2:22. ;)
Kaor, Paul!
And of course we see mention in the Technic stories of how dangerous it would be to use the hyperdrive too near or in the gravity well of a planet.
Ad astra! Sean
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