Patrol of time

Patrol of time (original title: Guardians off Time ) is a collection of Nouvelle S of Science-fiction, written by Poul Anderson (the United States) and published in 1960.

Argument

In a future distance, the descendants of the Men discovered the means of travelling in time. But to prevent that pirates badly intentioneds do not change the course of the history, they created the “Patrol of the time” which has of offices and agents at all the times…

Presentation of work

This novel of Science-fiction of the American author Poul Anderson is a collection of four news, published initially in the American specialized magazine The Fantasy and Science Fiction Magazine as from May 1955. They were then gathered in a collection entitled “ Time Patrol shorts stories ” and underwent various republications. The Time Patrol Series gather nine news in all. The first French editions, based on the first American edition of 1960, gathered the following news:

Patrol of Time ( The Time Patrol , 1955);
the Large King ( Brave to Be has king , 1959);
Failure with the Mongols ( The Only Range in Town , 1960);
the other universe ( Delenda is , 1955).

The edition Belial, gone back to 2005, adds a fifth news to the collection:

Falls of Gibraltar ( Gibraltar Falls , 1975);

Kind

In the kind of the Science fiction, the news the Patrol of time uses the narrative resources of the Voyage in time and some of them answer the characteristics of the Uchronie.

Summary of work

Manse Everard

The hero of the novel is an American called Manson Emmert Everard, 30 years, single person, ex-lieutenant of the American army and veteran of the Second world war. It is a informed bibliophile and an amateur of Poker, sailing ships, of weapons and horses. After its demobilization, he works as mechanical engineer. One day, he answers one enticing classified of recruiting which leads it to undergo a whole series of tests psychological, of encéphalogrammes and personality tests. Finally, it is recruited in the Patrouille of time , a secret brigade invented by the human ones of the future to allow the intertemporal trade, to supervise the tracks of time and to prevent the temporal pirates from modifying the course of the History. Officially, he works for the “Company of Entrepises Mécaniques”, the cover of the patrol.

As a patrol craft of time, Manse Everard is equipped with a gun paralysor of XXXe century, with a broadcasting transmitter dissimulated in his clothing and with a “change-time”, a temporal vehicle flying thanks to a system anti-gravity. This vehicle is presented as a motor bike two-seaters assembled on skis which can be harnessed with a carriage anti-gravity. The agents also have especially trained horses with the voyages in time. In the event of heavy fault, the agents of the Patrouille of time are sent on a planet of banishment.

Patrol of time

the first news of the collection plays a part of prolog by introducing the hero, by explaining the origin of the Patrol of time and by describing the role and the statute of Manse Everard within this patrol.

The United States, 1954. Manse Everard seeks work is made recruit by the “Patrol of Time”. During a training course which proceeds with the Oligocène, the hero learns that the voyage in time was discovered in 19352 a. J. - C by Daneelliens, the downward distances of the human ones. The new recruits learn the handling from the weapons of all the times, of many foreign languages - of which the “temporal one”, the common language of all the patrol craft - and world history. Little by little, Manse Everard binds friendship with Charles Whitcomb, a young silent and reserved British who accompanies it at the time of his first mission: to find the cause of a temporal anomaly detected at the XIXe century. Their investigation starts in the Kent XIXe century when they meet kinds of doubles of Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson who inquire into the death of a rich person British archeologist, then the conduit in Ve century a. J. - C., in the kingdom of the Saxons. They uncover and neutralize then Rozher Schtein, an idealistic historian who wanted to change the course of the history to make the world better. After the mission, Charles Whitcomb disappears in time without leaving traces. But Manse Everard thinks of knowing where to find it. It enfreint rules of the Patrol of time to help his/her friend. Charles had always dreamed to be able to save one day its been engaged, died to London in 1947 in the explosion of a V1, and patrols it time had given him the means of carrying out its dream. Manse Everard saves Mary Nelson, been engaged of Charles Whitcomb and this modification of the course of the history is exceptionally accepted by Daneeliens. But Manse Everard must from now on leave the regular patrol to become a “agent not attached”. Whereas a “attached agent” operates only over one period of time given, the “not attached agents” can intervene punctually at any time what makes their missions more difficult.

Supporting characters:

Mr. Gordon , employer of Manse Everard.
Dart Kelm , instructor of Manse Everard in the Patrol of time, born in 9573.
Mary Nelson , been engaged of Charles Whitcomb, died in the explosion of V1 on London.
Mainwethering , person in charge of the patrol of the time of London at the end of the XIXe century.
Charles Whitcomb , young British just demobilized RAF in 1947.
James Rotherhithe , specialist in the British Museum.
Rozher Schtein , idealistic historian, born in 2987.
Lord Wyndham , archeologist amateur.

The Large King

New York, XXe century. Manse Everard receives in its apartment his/her friend Cynthia Denison who worries about the disappearance of husband, Keith. This one, left on mission archaeological in the Iran the Antiquity for eight month, has never returned. As the agents of the Patrouille of time did not find its trace, Manse Everard agrees to help his/her friend and leaves for the Perse the Life front century J. - C. Manse Everard was disguised as an Athenian, meets Crésus the Lydian and continues an investigation which quickly leads it to the court of the Persian king Cyrus II, whose birth is surrounded by legend. Its interview with chiliarque the Harpage quickly proves to be an ambush, but Manse Everard is saved in extremis by the arrival of the king in whom Manse Everard recognizes his friend Keith Denison immediately. The archeologist inopportunely had been seen at the time of his arrival in this time and immediately made prisionnier by Harpage. By political calculation, this last made it pass to the eyes of the population for Cyrus II, the historical founder of the Persian empire. But once proclaimed king, Keith Denison cannot leave this time without modifying the course of the history which already recorded its exploits and the date of its death, at the time of a battle, in 530 av. J-C. Manse Everard thinks of a solution to help his/her friend to join his time. Whereas it tries to join its temporal vehicle, Manse Everard is continued by Harpage and its men. During the combat, Manse Everard kills Harpage. Manse Everard and Keith Denison leave then on their temporal vehicle and go up the sixteen years time to appear to the king Astyage like two messengers of the god Ahura-Mazda. They then threaten it of divine reprisals if he assassinates his Cyrus grandson. If the life of Astyage and Cyrus are found some modified, the course of the history is not therefore faded.

Supporting characters:

Cassandane , concubine of Keith Denison, alias Cyrus II.
Cynthia Denison , friend of Manse Everard, future wife of Keith, attached agent of the Patrol of time.
Keith Denison , agent of the patrol, born in 1927 in Masschussets, veteran of the war of Korea, demobilized in 1952.
Crésus of Lydie , rich Lydien which accommodates Manse Everard in its residence and the East towards the course of Cyrus II.
Auvargaush or Harpage , henchman and relative of king Astyage, then Chiliarque of the empire of Médie.

Failure with the Mongols

Manhattan, XXe century. Manse Everard receives the visit of John Sandoval who involves it in one surprising official mission: to prevent the Mongolian and the Chinese to discover and conquer America 200 years before Christophe Colomb. But this time, it is not a question of a voluntary deterioration of the course of the history: it seems that the Mongols of Kubilai Khan and the Chinese were inspired by the accounts of voyage of Marco Polo and to explore other regions. Even if it is authentic, this discovery would have too strong effects on the course of the history and the two agents of the Patrol of time are charged to prevent this conquest. The two agents are transported in XIIIe century, on the north-western coast of the American continent, and overlap with the meeting of sino-Mongolian forwarding. The foreign forwarding arrived by the Alaska had pushed to the mouth of the river Columbia. Manse Everard and John sandoval present themselves in behavior XXe century like the emissary of a powerful king who reigns more in the south and try to intimidate the chiefs of forwarding by killing an animal with a rifle Mauser. After being itself distant, the two agents prepare a violent one artificial storm to frighten the superstitious Mongols, but the Chinese, skilful pyrotechnists, are not easily deceived and they are quickly made prisionniers. Whereas John Sandoval is with the anguish, Manse Everard succeeds in making drink in Toktai, the chief of the Mongols, great quantities of whiskey. The two agents escape finally, regain their temporal vehicles and set fire to the ships of forwarding, condemning thus Mongolian and Chinese to remain on the continent and to mix from generation to generation with the local population.

Supporting characters:

John Sandoval , Navajo born in 1930, ethnologist and historian, agent of the Patrol of time.
Toktai , wire of Batu, Mongolian boundary-line, chief of forwarding, emissary of Kubilai Khan.
Li Tai-Tsung , erudite Chinese who accompanies forwarding.

Other universe

To the Pleistocene, in the Pyrenees, the members of the Patrouille of time devote themselves to the joys of the winter sports. Manse Everard and its colleague Piet van Sarawak want to divert themselves and choose to be transported at the time Manse Everard regards as more décandente. But when they arrive in what they believe being the New York of half of the XXe century, they are found in a completely unknown world. Men in kilts, the vapor cars decorated with figureheads. After having checked their machine, the two agents conclude with a fraudulent modification from time and are made stop by men-at-arms. Once in prison, the two agents test all the languages known to dialog with their geoliers. Only the old Greek allows them to communicate with an young girl called Deirdre Mac Morn. North America is called from now on rear Ynys Afallon , South America, Huy Braseal . The Southeast Asia and Australia are called Hinduraj , while the Afghanistan and the India are the Pundjab . The Han corresponds to the China, the Eastern Siberia, the Korea and the Japan, while the Littorn covers Western Russia and Europe. After removebeing removed by agents of Littorn, they study the history of this new world and discover that it is the result of another temporal screen which deviated at the time of the second Punic War. The origin of this deterioration is the death of the Scipions to the Bataille of Trébie and the victory of the Cathaginois over the Romains. They succeed in escaping and gather some agents of the Patrouille of time to prevent the murder of both Scipions by pirates of the Neldoriens times entered to the service of the Carthaginians of Hannibal Barca, in IIIe front century J. - C. Whereas they know that this change will make disappear the world that they discovered, they obtain the authorization to save the young person Deirdre Mac Morn.

Supporting characters:

Boierik , member of Littorn which makes remove the two agents of the Patrol of time and flies away over a “change-time” with Manse Everard.
Cynyth ap Ceorn , general Celt.
Deirdre Mac Morn , young girl who speaks old Greek.
Piet van Sarawak , agent not attached of the Patrol of the time, Hollando-Indonésien-Venusian, born in XXIVe century.

Comments

Design of time

Poul Anderson presents throughout its news a particular design of the time which answers the following characteristics:

the course of time is elastic, with a strong tendency to follow its course attested in the History;
the elasticity of time makes it possible to the men to move there without incidences on the course of the history;
the laws of the Causality and the conservation are associated with the principle of discontinuity: if an agent of the Patrouille of time killed his/her parents, it would however continue to exist;
the History is regarded as a continuous sequence of events which can be modified only in certain important nodal points. These are these nodal points that the agents of the Patrouille of time are charged to supervise.

Anti-uchronie patrol

The Patrouille of Time is in fact true a Patrouille anti Uchronie . Its goal is to prevent at all costs that the history is not rewritten: the Patrol is the guardian of the history such as it was received. In the first three news, the agents try to prevent the emergence of the uchronies before they are actually realized, while the fourth news plunges the reader in an entirely redefined alternative history that the agents of the Patrol must rectify afterwards.

In the latter uchronie, the Point of divergence is located during the Second Punic War, in the Antiquité. The author invents a new world geography, a new culture, Civilizations which evolved/moved differently, of new languages derived from Idiome S histories, etc This divergence allows the author to reconsider the course of the history: the Mayas and the sun-worship dominate the South America, the Celtes colonized the American continent, the Huns occupy the Central Europe, the Gaulois overcame Romains, etc Empêcher the urchronie to take place means to find the historical point of junction to cancel the cause of the divergence.

Historical topic and variations

Each news of the collection presents an original configuration of the close connections which link last and future in the writing of the history:

patrol of time : an idealistic temporal pirate projects himself in the past to try to modify the history and to make the future better;

the Large King : an agent of the Patrouille of Time plays against its liking a major historical part in the history and cannot leave its time without running any more the risk to modify the course of the history;

Failure with the Mongols : the Patrouille of Time must modify the history passed to make it in conformity with its theoretical unfolding: the discovery of America by Christophe Colomb and not by the Mongolian and the Chinese of XIIIe century;

the other universe : the agents of the Patrouille of Time note that the history completely changed and must find the event which is at the origin of the temporal divergence.

Reflection on the History

Each news of the collection is carrying a specific questioning on the History:

Patrol of time : wouldn't the voyage in time encourage us to want to change the world or to make revive expensive beings?

the Large King : is this the individual character of a historical character who makes his importance in the History or simply his function? The second news of the collection seems to postulate that the History needs a Cyrus II, king of the Perses, it does not matter that it is historical Cyrus or an agent of the future trapped in the past. It is the function of King of Persians which represents the nodal point of the history and not the individual who revêt the function.

Failure with the Mongols : wouldn't the History of the Occident such as we know it be already the result of a temporal modification?

the other universe : is our history the only possible history? But to modify a posteriori isn't the course of the history, to condemn to dead and the lapse of memory of whole civilizations?

Revisited Hérodote

The second news of the collection presents a variation on a historical topic in which the present and the past are imbricated. Poul Anderson takes again the legend of the birth of the Persian king Cyrus II brought back by the Greek historian Hérodote and into present a romantic version which uses the resources of the science fiction and the voyage in time. Inside the novel, Poul Anderson thus allots a base pseudo-history to a heroic myth of antiquity.

Comparison: History according to Hérodote/ History according to Poul Anderson :

Finally, to find a solution with the temporal paradox caused by the irruption of a man of the future in an ancient historical screen, the two agents must modify the history by preventing Astyage from projecting the assassination of Cyrus.

Traditional of the science fiction

This novel was classified among the traditional ones of the Science-fiction in the following reference books:

Annick Beguin, 100 principal titles of the science fiction , Cosmos 2000, 1981;
Jacques Sadoul, Anthology of the literature of science fiction , Ramsay, 1981;
Science fiction. The ideal library , Editions Albin MichelAlbin Michel, 1988;
Lorris Murail, the Masters of the science fiction , Bordered, coll “Compact”, 1993;
Stan Barets, science-fictionnaire , Denoël, coll “Presence of the future”, 1994.

Criticisms specialized

Lorris Murail declared in connection with the novel of Poul Anderson: Amusing and without consequence. A traditional minor.

French editions

The first editions proposed four news in a sometimes different order. The Belial edition gone back to 2005 additions a fifth news with the collection: Falls of Gibraltar .

the Patrol of time of Poul Anderson, translated from American by Bruno Martin, Michel Deutsch and Roger Durand, knew various French editions:

Marabout - Gerard, coll “giant Marabout”, n°232, 1965 (republications in 1970 and 1978);

I have Lu, coll “Science fiction and fantastic”, n°1409, 1982 (republication in 1987);

Belial, 2005.

Quotations

The numbers of page of the following quotations refer to the edition quoted in bibliography.

“ It is as if the continuum were made of a network of solids ribbons of rubber. It is not easy to deform it, it always tends to return to its former form . ”, p. 22

“ To turn over behind to kill Hitler and Japanese and Soviet chiefs… so that somebody moreover crafty one takes their place! ”, p. 25

“ so much millenia ago to supervise and if few human lives. ”, p. 77

“ One was going to need réhabituer to be held account of the opinion of a woman, to consult it. It would not be easy. ”, p. 138

“ I worry little about the Aztec ones. If you study them, you will agree that the Cortes their made a favor in Mexico. ”, p. 163

does

“ With what succeed this mission, if not to make return the future on itself to create its clean last? ”, p. 189

“ Even at the XXe century of Everard, France remained Celtic in a good measure. He hardly believed in the verbeuses theories of the innate racial characteristics, but there was probably truth in the belief in a traditional behavior so old that it unconsciously was accepted. ”, p. 215

“ Like underlined it Whitehead, the medieval idea of a single god and the Almighty was capital for science, because supposed the concept of order in nature. ”, p. 220

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