"'...what comes after us in evolution, a million or more years uptime. The way we come after apes. At least that's what most of us suppose. Nobody knows for certain.'"
-Poul Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), p. 29.
There is obviously scope here for a story that would reveal the true nature of the Danellians, showing that they were not what had been supposed.
The meaning of the Time Patrol is revealed on p. 435 (of 436) of The Shield... A further volume could have ended with the meaning of the Danellians.
Anderson's Time Patrol series, like his Technic History, could have been extended a lot further.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
The Danellians are so ambiguous, almost certainly meant to be like that by Anderson. We get a terrifying glimpse of a Danellian in "Time Patrol." And Manse comes to have some doubts about them in "The Only Game in Town, plus we should recall how frightened Guion was when he was pressed about them in conversation with Everard. Last, we get a much more reassuring meeting with a Danellian in THE SHIELD OF TIME. But the question of how benevolent they really are remains open.
Ad astra! Sean
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