Guardians... culminates with "Delenda Est." The Shield..., as it stands, culminates with PART SIX, "Amazement of the World." Even if, in accordance with my earlier suggestion, a future edition of The Shield... were instead to conclude with "Death And The Knight," this short story would serve as an epilogue rather than as an alternative culmination.
In both "Delenda.." and "Amazement...," history is altered and the Patrol must change it back. "Amazement..." is "Delenda..." writ large. The author has had more time to elaborate the idea and his characters discuss it in greater detail.
In "Delenda...":
Manse Everard and Piet Van Sarawak time travel from the Patrol Pleistocene lodge to what should be New York, 1960, only to arrive in the wrong timeline.
Thus, we see how the alteration affects two travellers on a single timecycle.
In "Amazement...":
in 1137alpha, Emil Volstrup, Patrol agent, learns that King Roger of Sicily, who should have lived until 1154, has been killed in battle;
Keith Denison time travels from 1765 BC not to 1980 AD but to 1980alpha AD;
Wanda Tamberly time travels from the Pleistocene lodge in 18,244 BC not to 1989 AD but to 1989alpha AD;
Manse Everard at the lodge in 18,244 BC is informed of a temporal upheaval on about Julian day 2,137,000.
Thus, we see how the upheaval affects four individuals in different periods.
The question of why only some time travellers enter the altered timeline is raised but not answered in "Delenda..." and is answered, although inadequately, in "Amazement..."!
In "Delenda...," the Patrol restores its preferred timeline with a single intervention whereas, in "Amazement...," a second intervention becomes necessary because the first intervention generates the beta timeline.
In "Delenda...," Neldorian time criminals have altered history whereas, in "Amazement...," the upheaval is caused by a quantum fluctuation in space-time-energy.
Like the same author's History of Technic Civilization, the Time Patrol series definitely goes somewhere.
It's got legs.
4 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
One way "Delenda Est" differs from THE SHIELD OF TIME is that I don't recall the latter having any mention of philosophers like Alfred Whitehead and Lewis Mumford. We see Manse discussing in "Delenda" how these men mentioned crucial innovations from Christianity which had enormous consequences.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
In THE SHIELD..., it is the medieval church-state conflict that is crucial.
Paul.
Paul: note that the crucial thing is that neither the Church nor the State actually, definitively -wins- the contest.
Kaor, Paul!
Paul: Not quite, Stirling's comment reminded me that my first comment was not complete. "Amazement of the World" did bring up in my mind how Christianity introduced another crucial idea which had enormous consequences: Matthew 22.15-22, on what can rightly be rendered to God and Caesar (the State). Christ's declaration that we should render to Caesar only what is rightly due to had enormous results, leading to hitherto unthinkable ideas on what the State, any State, can rightly demand.
Ever since then tyrants have hated and feared Christianity, esp. Catholic Christianity and have been constantly seeking to oppress or control the Church. E.g., Democrats in the US state of Washington passed a law interfering with the seal of sacramental confession. That was beaten back in the courts because of flagrantly violating the First Amendment of the US Constitution. That has been only one of many efforts by anti-Christians at harassing Christians. Another being Barack Obama's attempt to force nuns to pay for abortions. Secularists resent how Christians oppose abominations like "legalized" abortion or that "assisted suicide" law they are trying to ram thru Parliament in the UK.
In other parts of the world, it's worse than harassment: Muslims are persecuting and massacring Christians by the tens of thousands in Africa and the Mid East. The Maoists in China persecute Catholics and Protestants, the tyrant in Russia has turned the Russian Orthodox Church into a lackey of the regime.
The ideas and beliefs of orthodox Christianity undermines and threatens tyrants. That is why the conflict between Church and State in "Amazement" was not limited to the medieval era.
Ad astra! Sean
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