History And Yarns

Assuming for the sake of argument that "The Acolytes" does belong in the Psychotechnic History, we find that:

in "The Snows of Ganymede," Callisto and Ganymede are going to be terraformed;

in "Brake," Europa is going to be terraformed;

in "The Acolytes," Wilson Pete's father, an engineer, has:

"'...been assigned to a project on Sol VIII.'" (p. 6)

- i.e., on Neptune.

Thus, human activity expands out through the Solar System.

By the same token:

in "The Big Rain," Venus is being terraformed;

in "Cold Victory," Venus has been terraformed;

in "The Acolytes," Stellamont, the only city on Nerthus, is a few buildings on a broad plain;

in The Peregrine, Stellamont has grown much bigger and has even acquired a native section. See here.

History happens.

Wilson Pete is ten. His uncle, Thorleifsson Gunnar, has a blue, bald Javartenanian servant, Tobur, who tells Pete fine stories. Tobur has been with Gunnar since leaving Javartenan yet has been on many planets that Gunnar never mentions:

"...and he wouldn't lie to a fellow." (p. 11)

We return to the ambiguity of the yarn.