A Science Myth

Science has myths as well as fiction. A myth is a meaningful story that recurs in fiction but is independent of any text. Thus, we all know of the Flood whether or not we have read the Biblical account of it. In that myth, the universe was created by separating the waters. The Flood undid the creation and thus was an interval between the Adamic and Noachian universes. A third universe is created in the last Biblical book.

A cyclical universe is a feature of ancient Oriental and modern scientific cosmologies. In the scientific myth, cosmic expansion is slowed, then reversed, by gravity; there is a collapse to a point from which re-expansion begins.

This myth is in at least three of Poul Anderson's works:

in Tau Zero (hard sf), a continuously accelerating relativistic spaceship carries its crew, like Noah's Ark, into the next cosmic cycle;

in "Flight to Forever" (hard sf), a time machine carries its occupant into the next cosmic cycle;

in "Pact" (humorous fantasy, not Anderson's best), a demon compelled by a compact carries an astronomer's soul into the next cosmic cycle.

By "myth," I do not, in this case, mean a falsehood. Thus, the cyclical universe, in Stapledon's, Anderson's and other sf, could remain both a meaningful story and a current scientific theory. However, the cosmic expansion is not slowing but accelerating due to the as yet not understood "dark energy" which has the potential to generate new myths.

Non-Human Races

How many non-human races will interact with Earth in its future? In Poul Anderson's "Flight to Forever," (Alight In The Void, New York, 1993):

Ixchulhi conquerors built an enormous stone pyramid that stood for over twenty thousand years;

the Grimmani built the also enormous stone fortress of Brontothor;

Taury's Imperial court included a centauroid, an avian from Klakkahar, a four-armed Haamigurian and the Dreamer;

 

the "gods" of the city were so far beyond mankind that it was irrelevant whether they were our descendents or the outcome of an independent evolution;

Saunders wonders "How many intelligent races had risen on Earth and had their day, and died...?" but concludes "At least...we were the first." (p. 235)

Thus, some non-human races are separated from us not by space but by time. They are not extraterrestrials but extra-temporals.

The Dreamer is the last of the Vro-Hi. In Anderson's Technic Civilization History, we realize that a Galactic Empire would be too impossibly vast to rule and that even the much smaller Terran Empire, only four hundred light years across, cannot really be ruled centrally from Archopolis. However, in "Flight to Forever," "'...the coordination of a billion planets...'" in a single Galactic Empire becomes temporarily possible because of "'...scientific psychodynamics and the great cybernetic engines...'" and the guidance of the old, wise, telepathic Vro-Hi. (p. 214) The Vro-Hi are not just collectively ancient. The Dreamer alone is half a million years old.

"'No other race is intelligent enough to coordinate [the Empire].'" (p. 208)

The Dreamer works on the philosophical basis of the Second Empire just as Asimov's Second Foundation applies psychohistory to project their Second Empire. However, the Dreamer also proves that permanence is self-contradictory so that, "'There can be no goal to reach, not ever.'" (p. 214)

No permanent goal, no.

The Dreamer agrees with the time traveler Saunders that "'To travel hopefully...is better than to arrive.'" (p. 213) CS Lewis commented on this aphorism that, if it were true and were known to be true, then there would be nothing to hope for. But Lewis believed in a permanent goal. Surely for the rest of us there is both constant motion and many inherently valuable moments along the way?

The Vro-Hi "'...achieved a static physical state in which the new frontiers and challenges lay within our own minds...'" and wrongly thought that this ideal should suit all other beings. (p. 213) This same, I think false, dichotomy recurs in Anderson's much later Harvest Of Stars Tetralogy. Integrated intelligences will continue to explore both the endless outer cosmos and mental realms like pure mathematics.

The Dreamer offers to remove the time travelers' "'...little neuroses...'" but Belgotai replies that he likes his. (p. 213) I would have accepted the offer. When painful memories arise during Zen meditation, we neither suppress nor prolong them and do not think about them but let them pass and, until they pass, sit with them. But attention to the present would be facilitated if the memories did not arise.

"Flight to Forever" gives us another reference to the "ultrawave" (p. 216) and a space battle comparable to those in the Technic History. Saunders ironically uses the phrase, "All the time in the world." (p. 188), which is used not in The Time Machine but in one film adaptation of it.

Science fiction hints at some interesting other languages:

Old Solar in CS Lewis' Ransom Trilogy;
Temporal in Anderson's Time Patrol series:
Stellarian in "Flight To Forever" -

- languages of the sun, time and stars.

Brontothor

On June 30 and July 1 last year, I posted a two-part Chronology of Poul Anderson's "Flight to Forever" (IN Anderson, Alight In The Void, New York, 1993, pp. 161-240), which I thought was comprehensive although, on rereading the story, I realize that a few more dates should have been included:

in 43,000 AD, the nonhuman Grimmani built the massive stone fortress of Brontothor on Earth;

in 44,000 AD, Brontothor was blasted out of action;

between 49,000 and 50,000, the Galactic Emperor lost his fleet, fled to the Periphery, made Earth the Galactic capital and renovated parts of Brontothor;

in 50,000 AD, the time projector arrived outside Brontothor.

The Grimanni sound like Germani or other barbarians who invaded the Roman Empire in history and in historical fictions by Poul Anderson.

Brontothor is a fantastic setting:

"A gray stone mass dominated the landscape. It stood enormous a few miles off, its black walls sprawling over incredible acres, its massive crenellated towers reaching gauntly into the sky. And it lay half in ruin, torn and tumbled stone distorted by energies that once made rock run molten, blurred by uncounted millennia of weather - old." (p. 201)

- but there is a banner flying.

One of Brontothor's occupants describes it as:

"A haunted fortress on a frozen ghost world..." (p. 204)

Earth is frozen and inhabited by "Only a few starveling savages..." because there was "...a weapon...which consumed atmospheric carbon dioxide." (pp. 208-209)

The time travelers are entertained in a small council chamber "...hung with tapestries and carpeted with skins..." because the great hall is too huge,empty, dark and hollow. (p. 206)

"Flight to Forever" ends with echoes of The Time Machine and of another Anderson story. Because the Morlocks moved the Time Machine into the White Sphinx, it returns to the nineteenth century in a different part of the Time Traveler's laboratory. Because the time projector was stored in a warehouse at Brontothor, it returns to 1973 a short distance down the hill from the house. And Saunders says, "'...I must be a little early.'" (p. 240) - echoing the title of another Anderson time travel story.

Flight To Forever III

I thought that another memorable passage in Poul Anderson's "Flight to Forever" (IN Anderson, Alight In The Void, New York, 1993, pp. 161-240) was:

"'...this last farewell to the days when we fought with our own hands, and fared between the stars, when we were a small band of sworn comrades whose dreams outstripped our strength.'" (p. 226)

Taury the Red, about to assume Galactic Imperial power, feels nostalgic about the days when her small band was almost powerless. Looking ahead, she continues:

"'When you work for a billion stars, you don't have a chance to see one peasant's wrinkled face light with a deed of kindness you did, or hear him tell you what you did wrong - the world will all be strangers to us -'" (ibid.)

Could a high tech interstellar civilization really have a social hierarchy with an Empress at one end and peasants at the other? Surely not. Why do we read such stuff? What we are appreciating here is a fantastic combination of elements from historical fiction and from science fiction. It is like the Tsarist Empire with spaceships, although Anderson's canon does also include both straight historical fiction and serious speculative fiction.

The change in Taury's Imperial status is from de jure to de facto. Earlier:

"'...we are the Empire - legally. Taury is a direct descendant of Maurco the Doomer, last Emperor to be anointed according to the proper forms. Of course, that was five thousand years ago, and Maurco had only three systems left then, but the law is clear. These hundred or more barbarian pretenders, human and otherwise, haven't the shadow of a real claim to the title.'" (p. 205)

But would Galactic Emperors be anointed and hereditary? If so, then any of the pretenders can seize power and start a new dynasty. De jure always begins as de facto. And, as it happens, only an implausible coincidence enables Taury to enforce her claim.

Saunders and Belgotai, time traveling futurewards in their time projector which, like Wells' Time Machine, is confined to a single position on the Earth's surface, stop in 50,000 AD. Over the millennia, the Galactic Imperial capital had been located closer to the Galactic center. However, Taury's father had fled back to the Solar System and had occupied the Terrestrial fortress of Brontothor which happens to have been built, seven millennia earlier, in sight of the location of the time projector. And it is this imported time travel technology that enables Taury's fleet to win a decisive space battle.

Thus, a far more probable scenario would have had the time travellers arriving in 50,000 AD while the seat of Imperial power was still located elsewhere in the Galaxy. Even if it was now in the Solar System, why should it be on Earth, let along in direct line of sight of the arriving time projector?

Some other arrivals also have this convenient coincidental quality, enabling the time travelers instantly to assess the Galactic situation immediately on exiting the projector:

in 4100 AD, they arrive among buildings where a man uses a "psychophone" to greet them with "'Welcome, travelers...'"! (p. 185);

in 4300 AD, they are greeted by young people emerging from summerhouses who regard time travelers as "'...the biggest lark...since the ship came from Sirius...'" (p. 188);

in 4400 AD, a villa burns as "...huge bearded men in helmets and cuirasses..." carry loot and captives to a scarred spaceship (p. 190);

in 25,296 AD, Lord Arsfel of Astracyr from the Galactic Institute has led an archaeological expedition (spaceship parked nearby) to excavate the Ixchulhi pyramid in which the projector had been trapped for twenty thousand years;

in 31,000 AD, they are in a city with a spaceship, yet again, parked nearby and this time there is a Matriarchy;

in 36,000 AD, there is a village with a battered spaceship and a main in Imperial uniform.

On all but one of these dates, as in 50,000 AD, the time travelers are immediately greeted by informative locals. In the remaining case, 4400 AD, they can see at a glance that the barbarians have arrived so that it is prudent to flee.

Flight To Forever II

Poul Anderson's "Flight to Forever" (IN Anderson, Alight In The Void, New York, 1993, pp. 161-240), published in 1950, begins and ends in 1973 although its hero, Saunders, time travels around the cosmic cycle between the beginning and end of the story. Twenty two lines of text separate:

"The universe was dead!" (p. 235)

from:

"The universe was re-forming." (p. 236)

Between cosmic death and re-formation, Saunders eats a sandwich.

At his first stop, in 2073, he reflects that "...the gerontology of 1973 made it entirely possible..." that "...he was still alive today..." (p. 166). So his 1973 was more advanced than ours.

"Flight to Forever" would make an excellent film. Imagine this dialogue on a sound track:

"CREATURE FROM OUT OF TIME, LEAVE THIS PLACE AT ONCE OR THE FORCES WE USE WILL DESTROY YOU!
"Can you help me?...Can you send me back through time?
"MAN, THERE IS NO WAY TO TRAVEL FAR BACKWARD IN TIME, IT IS INHERENTLY IMPOSSIBLE. YOU MUST GO ON TO THE VERY END OF THE UNIVERSE, AND BEYOND THE END, BECAUSE THAT WAY LIES -
"He screamed...
"GO ON, MAN, GO ON!..." (p. 232)

And before that, these visuals: a "city" of titanic and changing structures, throbbing and pulsing forces, flashing and roaring energies, wavering and blurring light, hissing and stinging air...

Some of the phenomena that Saunders encounters are familiar adventure fiction material rather than serious futurological speculation. In 50,000 AD:

snow and ice caused by war, not by geology;
a massive, half-ruined stone fortress with one banner still flying;
a young long-haired man in helmet and kilt with a four-armed alien companion

- like a good Doctor Who episode, it would make excellent cinema.

"Flight To Forever" Timeline, Part II

4400-25,296	The time projector cannot emerge because it is enclosed by a half mile high stone tetrahedron erected by Ixchulhi conquerors.
25,296	Since the Ixchulhi wars, mathematical psychology has united the Galactic Empire. Primitive landsmen at Sol. Barbarians on the periphery and in the Magellanic Clouds.
26,000	The pyramid has become a wooded hill.
27,000	A small agricultural village.
28,000	Men quarry the pyramid for stone.
30,000	A small city has been built from the stones of the pyramid.
31,000	The Solar Matriarchy pays tribute to the Empire which has stopped expanding.
34,000	The barbarians have moved in and the city has been destroyed.
35,000	Peasant huts.
36,000	The Empire declines. A small troop has been hired to defend Earth.
45,000	Maurco the Doomer, holding only three systems, is the last Emperor anointed according to the proper forms.
50,000	Saunders' time effect wins a space battle. Empire restored. A rival sends Saunders onwards to prevent him from marrying Empress Taury.
60,000	Saunders stops the projector but salt water seeps in.
4 million years	A city full of energies and a telepathic voice warning Saunders that its forces will destroy him if he stays.
100 million	Snow. A being who agrees that he should go on.
1 billion years	Blue grass. A city that warns him away. The sea, then a mountain, the sun changing and Earth spiralling towards it.
100 billion	The Sun is a red giant.
Billions	Darkness. The universe is dead.
Many billions	Light. The universe is reforming.
Later.	On a molten planet.
Geological ages	Rain on naked rock. Then seas, land, jungles.
Millions.	The Moon is recognisable.
Later.	He recognises the village.
1936	He enters a bank and checks the date on a calender.
1973	He returns, a little early.

"Flight To Forever" Timeline, Part I

1953	Martin Saunders visits from 1973 in the time projector.
1973	Saunders, physicist, and Sam Hull, mechanic, leave for 2073.
1993	Saunders visits from 1973.
2008	Saunders and Hull find that this is as far back as they can come from 2073. The energy required approaches infinity. They must seek help in the future.
2013	The automatics, lying in the fire-blackened basement, had struggled a little further back, then stopped, batteries drained.
2023	Charred stumps of the burned house. Energy has drained from the returning projector.
2043	As '63 and '53 but the pit is fresher and the projector is drawing too much energy.
2053	Same as '63 but sun instead of rain.
2063	A stop on the return journey to look for the automatic probes which had neither returned from 2073 to 1973 nor been found in 2073. The pit of the house.
2073	Saunders and Hull arrive from 1973 in the half-filled basement of the 1973 house, take readings and start back.
2200's.	Martian colonists revolt against Terrestrial Directorate. A defeated Directorate army leaps forward in time.
2300's -2600's.	Armageddonists (Fanatics) rule Earth.
2300's.	The Time War. Unsuccessful attack of defeated Directorate army from the 2200's.
2500	Saunders and Hull arrive from 2008, on a hill. Men in black (Fanatics) kill Hull. Saunders flees.
Late 2600's	Planetary League and African Dissenters overthrow Fanatics.
2600's-2800's	Peace and progress. Chronology dating from the ascension of John Mteza I.
2800's	Breakdown. Decay and attacks by barbarians from outer planets.
3000	Saunders, arriving in a besieged city-state, agrees to take the displaced mercenary, Belgotai of Syrtis, with him into the future.
3100	Radioactivity where an atom bomb had destroyed the city.
3200	No radioactivity but a lifeless crater.
3500	A forest.
3600's	Faster than light drive. Interstellar travel.
4100	A dean of the American College informs Saunders and Belgotai by psychophone that it is impossible to return more than 70 years. An atomic engine replaces their batteries and they are given a psychophone.
4300	Nonhuman mercenaries guard Solar mercantile wealth against interstellar raiders and conquerors.
4400	Barbarians sack Earth.

Through Space And Time, Between Worlds

Occasionally in fantasy and science fiction (sf), someone makes a random series of "jumps" through space and time or between worlds without any idea of what they will encounter after each "jump." The author's imagination must be up to the task. Whatever is encountered, it must be something new, not an implication or consequence of anything that had occurred earlier in the narrative. It is like writing, or reading, a mini-series.

The hero of James Blish's Jack Of Eagles made such a journey near the end of that novel. In "Beep"/The Quincunx Of Time, Blish invented what was effectively a variation on this theme. A small group of characters in our future sits comfortably in an office while receiving audiovisual messages from various periods of their future. Thus, like the reader, they go nowhere physically and remain perfectly safe while learning about problems that will concern their successors but not them. In some cases, tantalizingly, they do not fully understand the problems yet.

Poul Anderson, I now suspect, did everything that there was to be done in sf. He certainly contributed to the  "through space and time, between worlds" theme. In "Flight To Forever," he had to imagine a new future scenario every time his characters halted their headlong rush into the future. A timeline for this story is very impressive.

In Chapter XXVI of The Avatar, a spaceship is forced to make a random jump through a T machine field. In Chapter XXVII, it is in an unknown planetary system where there is another T machine so that, after some exploration, it will be able to make another jump. Thereafter, nine chapters begin with the single word "Jump."

Spoiler alert: my next task will be to reread the remainder of the novel and to summarize what is found after each of these jumps.