Wednesday, 12 November 2025

A Man Who Did Not Exist

Poul Anderson, 1245beta A. D. IN Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), pp. 393-413.

The beta timeline is protected by someone who had never existed in the Patrol-guarded timeline, Sir Giacomo de Mora, great-grandson of the personal causal nexus, Lorenzo de Conti. Manse Everard's assistant, Karel Novak, claiming to have come from Denmark, tells Giacomo that the Danish king is in conflict both with his brother and with the bishops. That had been true in the Patrol-guarded timeline but not in the beta timeline where Emperor Fredrick's increased power has probably frightened the Danes into avoiding internecine strife. Thus, Giacomo knows that Novak is lying. That and the two Patrolmen's habit of muttering into their medallions is enough to make Giacomo suspect them of spying and sorcery.

By marrying a woman who should have been the mother of a powerful Pope and by also having a great-grandson who becomes:

"...Frederick's brilliant military leader and diplomat..." (p. 398)

- Lorenzo has again upset the medieval church-state balance of power.

Time works in mysterious ways.

2 comments:

S.M. Stirling said...

Lorenzo is some sort of human magnet, apparently.

Anonymous said...

Kaor, Mr. Stirling!

He was, to his misfortune.

Ad astra! Sean