Encroaching Brush And Whittering Wind

1989beta A. D. IN Anderson, The Shield Of Time (New York, 1991), pp. 369-373.

Civilization has reached further west in North America in the beta timeline than in the alpha timeline but also seems to be in retreat. Over the Golden Gate, there is still white fog. Nature has not changed. There are also:

shining bay;

summer-tawny earth;

ruined walls, towers and strongholds;

brush reclaiming crumbled adobe buildings;

a village where Sausalito should be;

a few fishing smacks at sea;

where timecycles hover at eagle height, "...whittering wind." (p. 369)

That Andersonian wind has its say. "Whittering" seems appropriate for crumbling buildings. Something has happened here but what? The Patrol agents do not risk descent but go to look elsewhere.

Poul Anderson's strengths include detailed descriptions even of briefly glimpsed scenes that will never be seen again. Now on its guard, the Patrol will avoid any entanglements on the ground in the beta twentieth century.