Time Machines

Although the time machine in Poul Anderson's "Flight to Forever" is called a "time projector," the story reverts to the by now familiar phrase, "time machine," before the end of the narrative. We probably think of time machines as vehicles that people travel in, like this projector and the TARDIS. The latter is bigger outside than in, exploiting extra spatial dimensions. Anderson's first Time Patrol story, "Time Patrol," features two time shuttles that enclose their passengers, the first, used by the Patrol, described as a large metal box. The second is a model from the Ing Empire, date unspecified although it is some time after 2987 from which it is separated by an Interregnum. However, Patrol agents usually time travel by means of timecycles which resemble HG Wells' original Time Machine in that they are vehicles which the traveller sits on. In Anderson's The Dancer From Atlantis, an anakro encloses its passengers and travels through time while also following a great circle around the Earth's surface and a malfunctioning anakro and can pick up living beings outside it and carry them along with it, hence the involvement of the twentieth century viewpoint character and a handful of individuals from earlier periods.

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