Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now what?
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful
Dead fans?
--scott
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful
Dead fans?
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time...
now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful
Dead fans?
--scott
-a-a-a-aDon't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
-a-a-a-aI was there and that is my clear impression.
-a-a-a-aIf I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause
a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
On 9/16/2026 10:12 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:But if you never went anywhere at all how could you have gone back to
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time...
now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful
Dead fans?
--scott
-a-a-a-aDon't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
-a-a-a-aI was there and that is my clear impression.
-a-a-a-aIf I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause
a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
meet yourself to cause you to never go anywhere at all!?
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now what?
https://reactormag.com/four-stories-featuring-time-travel-of-a-sort/
On 9/16/2026 10:12 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:But if you never went anywhere at all how could you have gone back to
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time...
now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful
Dead fans?
--scott
-a-a-a-a-aDon't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
-a-a-a-a-aI was there and that is my clear impression.
-a-a-a-a-aIf I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause
a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
meet yourself to cause you to never go anywhere at all!?
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 9/16/2026 10:12 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:But if you never went anywhere at all how could you have gone back to
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time...
now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful >>>> Dead fans?
--scott
-a-a-a-aDon't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
-a-a-a-aI was there and that is my clear impression.
-a-a-a-aIf I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause
a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
meet yourself to cause you to never go anywhere at all!?
STACK LIMIT EXCEEDED: REMAINDER OF JOB FLUSHED
kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) writes:
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time Travel??? of a SortI get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful >>Dead fans?
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now what? >>
Or anyone who yearns to hear Pink Floyd at Winterland in 1972.
In article <118ff0e$rsh$1@panix2.panix.com>,
Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 9/16/2026 10:12 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:But if you never went anywhere at all how could you have gone back to >>>meet yourself to cause you to never go anywhere at all!?
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time Travel??? of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... >>>>>> now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful >>>>> Dead fans?
--scott
????????Don't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
????????I was there and that is my clear impression.
????????If I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause
a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
STACK LIMIT EXCEEDED: REMAINDER OF JOB FLUSHED
"We do not care to risk it," he said. "We prefer to see to
it that all 'past' events, as recorded in the annals of
history as compiled prior to the era of time-travel, go
untouched. For the past fifty years of now-time the entire
previous span of history, thought to be fixed, has been
potentially fluid; yet we struggle to keep it fixed. Thus
we employ the Time Patrol to make certain that everything
will happen in the past exactly as it did happen, no matter
how unfortunate an event it might be. Disasters, assassinations,
tragedies of all kinds must occur on schedule, for otherwise
the future--our now-time--may be irreparably changed."
Miss Chambers said, "But isn't the very fact of our presence
in the past a changing of the past?"
"I was about to reach that point," said Dajani, displeased.
"If we assume that the past and present form a single
continuum, then obviously visitors from the twenty-first
century were present at all the great events of the past,
unobtrusively enough so that no mention of them found its
way into the annals of the fixed-time era. So we take great
care to camouflage everyone who goes up the line in the
costume of the time being visited. One must watch the past
without meddling, as a silent bystander, as inconspicuous
as possible. This is a rule that the Time Patrol enforces
with absolute inflexibility. I will discuss the nature of
that enforcement shortly.
"I spoke the other day of cumulative audience paradox. This
is a severe philosophical problem which has not yet been
resolved, and which I will present to you now purely as a
theoretical exercise, to give you some insight into the
complexities of our undertaking. Consider this: the first
time-traveler to go up the line to view the Crucifixion of
Jesus was the experimentalist Barney Navarre, in 2012. Over
the succeeding two decades, another fifteen or twenty
experimentalists made the same journey. Since the commencement
of commercial excursions to Golgotha in 2041, approximately
one tourist group a month--or 100 tourists a year--has
viewed the scene. Thus about 1800 individuals of the
twenty-first century, so far, have observed the Crucifixion.
Now, then: each of these groups is leaving from a different
month, but every one of them is converging on the same day!
If tourists continue to go up the line at a rate of 100 a
year to see the Crucifixion, the crowd at Golgotha will
consist of at least 10,000 time-travelers by the middle of
the twenty-second century, and--assuming no increase in the
permissible tourist trade--by the early thirtieth century,
some 100,000 time-travelers will have made the trip, all
of them necessarily congregating simultaneously at the site
of the Passion. Yet obviously no such crowds are present
there now, only a few thousand Palestinians--when I say
'now,' I mean of course the time of the Crucifixion relative
to now-time 2059--and just as obviously those crowds will
continue to grow in the centuries of now-time. Taken to its
ultimate, the cumulative audience paradox yields us the
picture of an audience of billions of time-travelers piled
up in the past to witness the Crucifixion, filling all the
Holy Land and spreading out into Turkey, into Arabia, even
to India and Iran. Similarly for every other significant
event in human history: as commercial time-travel progresses,
it must inevitably smother every event in a horde of
spectators, yet at the original occurrence of those events,
no such hordes were present! How is this paradox to be
resolved?"
Miss Dalessandro had no suggestions. For once, she was
stumped. So were the rest of us. So was Dajani. So are the
finest minds of our era.
Meanwhile, the past fills up with time-traveling sightseers.
Dajani tossed one final twister at us before he let us go.
"I may add," he said, "that I myself, as a Courier, have
done the Crucifixion run twenty-two times, with twenty-two
different groups. If you were to attend the Crucifixion
yourselves tomorrow, you would find twenty-two Najeeb Dajanis
at the hill of Golgotha simultaneously, each of me occupying
a different position at the event explaining the happening
to my clients. Is this multiplication of Dajanis not a
fascinating thing to consider? Why are there not twenty-two
Dajanis at loose in now-time? It stretches the intellect
to revolve such thoughts. Dismissed, dear ladies and
gentlemen, dismissed."
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
In article <118ff0e$rsh$1@panix2.panix.com>,
Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
Dimensional Traveler <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 9/16/2026 10:12 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:But if you never went anywhere at all how could you have gone back to
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time Travel??? of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... >>>>>>> now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to Grateful >>>>>> Dead fans?
--scott
????????Don't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
????????I was there and that is my clear impression.
????????If I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause
a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
meet yourself to cause you to never go anywhere at all!?
STACK LIMIT EXCEEDED: REMAINDER OF JOB FLUSHED
"We do not care to risk it," he said. "We prefer to see to
it that all 'past' events, as recorded in the annals of
history as compiled prior to the era of time-travel, go
untouched. For the past fifty years of now-time the entire
previous span of history, thought to be fixed, has been
potentially fluid; yet we struggle to keep it fixed. Thus
we employ the Time Patrol to make certain that everything
will happen in the past exactly as it did happen, no matter
how unfortunate an event it might be. Disasters, assassinations,
tragedies of all kinds must occur on schedule, for otherwise
the future--our now-time--may be irreparably changed."
Miss Chambers said, "But isn't the very fact of our presence
in the past a changing of the past?"
"I was about to reach that point," said Dajani, displeased.
"If we assume that the past and present form a single
continuum, then obviously visitors from the twenty-first
century were present at all the great events of the past,
unobtrusively enough so that no mention of them found its
way into the annals of the fixed-time era. So we take great
care to camouflage everyone who goes up the line in the
costume of the time being visited. One must watch the past
without meddling, as a silent bystander, as inconspicuous
as possible. This is a rule that the Time Patrol enforces
with absolute inflexibility. I will discuss the nature of
that enforcement shortly.
"I spoke the other day of cumulative audience paradox. This
is a severe philosophical problem which has not yet been
resolved, and which I will present to you now purely as a
theoretical exercise, to give you some insight into the
complexities of our undertaking. Consider this: the first
time-traveler to go up the line to view the Crucifixion of
Jesus was the experimentalist Barney Navarre, in 2012. Over
the succeeding two decades, another fifteen or twenty
experimentalists made the same journey. Since the commencement
of commercial excursions to Golgotha in 2041, approximately
one tourist group a month--or 100 tourists a year--has
viewed the scene. Thus about 1800 individuals of the
twenty-first century, so far, have observed the Crucifixion.
Now, then: each of these groups is leaving from a different
month, but every one of them is converging on the same day!
If tourists continue to go up the line at a rate of 100 a
year to see the Crucifixion, the crowd at Golgotha will
consist of at least 10,000 time-travelers by the middle of
the twenty-second century, and--assuming no increase in the
permissible tourist trade--by the early thirtieth century,
some 100,000 time-travelers will have made the trip, all
of them necessarily congregating simultaneously at the site
of the Passion. Yet obviously no such crowds are present
there now, only a few thousand Palestinians--when I say
'now,' I mean of course the time of the Crucifixion relative
to now-time 2059--and just as obviously those crowds will
continue to grow in the centuries of now-time. Taken to its
ultimate, the cumulative audience paradox yields us the
picture of an audience of billions of time-travelers piled
up in the past to witness the Crucifixion, filling all the
Holy Land and spreading out into Turkey, into Arabia, even
to India and Iran. Similarly for every other significant
event in human history: as commercial time-travel progresses,
it must inevitably smother every event in a horde of
spectators, yet at the original occurrence of those events,
no such hordes were present! How is this paradox to be
resolved?"
Miss Dalessandro had no suggestions. For once, she was
stumped. So were the rest of us. So was Dajani. So are the
finest minds of our era.
Meanwhile, the past fills up with time-traveling sightseers.
Dajani tossed one final twister at us before he let us go.
"I may add," he said, "that I myself, as a Courier, have
done the Crucifixion run twenty-two times, with twenty-two
different groups. If you were to attend the Crucifixion
yourselves tomorrow, you would find twenty-two Najeeb Dajanis
at the hill of Golgotha simultaneously, each of me occupying
a different position at the event explaining the happening
to my clients. Is this multiplication of Dajanis not a
fascinating thing to consider? Why are there not twenty-two
Dajanis at loose in now-time? It stretches the intellect
to revolve such thoughts. Dismissed, dear ladies and
gentlemen, dismissed."
The above is an excerpt from UP THE LINE by Silverberg.
On 9/16/2026 9:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now
what?
https://reactormag.com/four-stories-featuring-time-travel-of-a-sort/
Zero for four.
Of course, there is Heinlein's time travel story, "All You Zombies".
-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94%27
And his stories "The Door Into Summer" and
-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_into_Summer
"By His Bootstraps" (which I do not recall ever reading).
-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
Don wrote:
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
In article <118ff0e$rsh$1@panix2.panix.com>,
Scott Dorsey <kludge@panix.com> wrote:
Dimensional Traveler-a <dtravel@sonic.net> wrote:
On 9/16/2026 10:12 AM, BobbieSellers wrote:
On 9/16/26 08:30, Scott Dorsey wrote:But if you never went anywhere at all how could you have gone back to >>>>> meet yourself to cause you to never go anywhere at all!?
James Nicoll <jdnicoll@panix.com> wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time Travel??? of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... >>>>>>>> now what?
I get a patent on my mysterious process and then license it to
Grateful
Dead fans?
--scott
-a ????????Don't do that! The 1960s are already too crowded.
-a ????????I was there and that is my clear impression.
-a ????????If I was to go back and meet myself I would likely cause >>>>>> a time loop and then I would never go anywhere at all.
STACK LIMIT EXCEEDED:-a REMAINDER OF JOB FLUSHED
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a "We do not care to risk it," he said. "We prefer to see to >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a it that all 'past' events, as recorded in the annals of >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a history as compiled prior to the era of time-travel, go >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a untouched. For the past fifty years of now-time the entire >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a previous span of history, thought to be fixed, has been >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a potentially fluid; yet we struggle to keep it fixed. Thus >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a we employ the Time Patrol to make certain that everything >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a will happen in the past exactly as it did happen, no matter
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a how unfortunate an event it might be. Disasters,
assassinations,
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a tragedies of all kinds must occur on schedule, for otherwise
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a the future--our now-time--may be irreparably changed."
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Miss Chambers said, "But isn't the very fact of our presence
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a in the past a changing of the past?"
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a "I was about to reach that point," said Dajani, displeased.
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a "If we assume that the past and present form a single
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a continuum, then obviously visitors from the twenty-first >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a century were present at all the great events of the past, >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a unobtrusively enough so that no mention of them found its >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a way into the annals of the fixed-time era. So we take great
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a care to camouflage everyone who goes up the line in the >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a costume of the time being visited. One must watch the past >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a without meddling, as a silent bystander, as inconspicuous >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a as possible. This is a rule that the Time Patrol enforces >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a with absolute inflexibility. I will discuss the nature of >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a that enforcement shortly.
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a "I spoke the other day of cumulative audience paradox. This
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a is a severe philosophical problem which has not yet been >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a resolved, and which I will present to you now purely as a >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a theoretical exercise, to give you some insight into the >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a complexities of our undertaking. Consider this: the first >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a time-traveler to go up the line to view the Crucifixion of >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Jesus was the experimentalist Barney Navarre, in 2012. Over
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a the succeeding two decades, another fifteen or twenty
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a experimentalists made the same journey. Since the commencement
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a of commercial excursions to Golgotha in 2041, approximately
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a one tourist group a month--or 100 tourists a year--has
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a viewed the scene. Thus about 1800 individuals of the
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a twenty-first century, so far, have observed the Crucifixion.
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Now, then: each of these groups is leaving from a different
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a month, but every one of them is converging on the same day!
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a If tourists continue to go up the line at a rate of 100 a >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a year to see the Crucifixion, the crowd at Golgotha will >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a consist of at least 10,000 time-travelers by the middle of >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a the twenty-second century, and--assuming no increase in the
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a permissible tourist trade--by the early thirtieth century, >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a some 100,000 time-travelers will have made the trip, all >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a of them necessarily congregating simultaneously at the site
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a of the Passion. Yet obviously no such crowds are present >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a there now, only a few thousand Palestinians--when I say >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a 'now,' I mean of course the time of the Crucifixion relative
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a to now-time 2059--and just as obviously those crowds will >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a continue to grow in the centuries of now-time. Taken to its
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a ultimate, the cumulative audience paradox yields us the >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a picture of an audience of billions of time-travelers piled >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a up in the past to witness the Crucifixion, filling all the >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Holy Land and spreading out into Turkey, into Arabia, even >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a to India and Iran. Similarly for every other significant >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a event in human history: as commercial time-travel progresses,
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a it must inevitably smother every event in a horde of
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a spectators, yet at the original occurrence of those events,
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a no such hordes were present! How is this paradox to be
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a resolved?"
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Miss Dalessandro had no suggestions. For once, she was
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a stumped. So were the rest of us. So was Dajani. So are the >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a finest minds of our era.
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Meanwhile, the past fills up with time-traveling sightseers.
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Dajani tossed one final twister at us before he let us go. >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a "I may add," he said, "that I myself, as a Courier, have >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a done the Crucifixion run twenty-two times, with twenty-two >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a different groups. If you were to attend the Crucifixion >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a yourselves tomorrow, you would find twenty-two Najeeb Dajanis
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a at the hill of Golgotha simultaneously, each of me occupying
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a a different position at the event explaining the happening >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a to my clients. Is this multiplication of Dajanis not a
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a fascinating thing to consider? Why are there not twenty-two
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Dajanis at loose in now-time? It stretches the intellect >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a to revolve such thoughts. Dismissed, dear ladies and
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a gentlemen, dismissed."
The above is an excerpt from UP THE LINE by Silverberg.
Beat me to it!
That'll teach me to dawdle in the afternoon.
When I was younger this was one of my favourite books.-a I wonder how it would hold up now.
William Hyde
Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 9/16/2026 9:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time...
now what?
https://reactormag.com/four-stories-featuring-time-travel-of-a-sort/
Zero for four.
Of course, there is Heinlein's time travel story, "All You Zombies".
-a-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94%27 >>
And his stories "The Door Into Summer" and
-a-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_into_Summer
"By His Bootstraps" (which I do not recall ever reading).
-a-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
At one point in high school I thought I'd read everything by Heinlein.
But then in the school library I stumbled across one of the very first hardbound (and it was indeed well bound) SF hardbacks - a volume twenty years older than the school itself.
Among many other great stories it contained "By His Bootstraps" which
was not in any of the various Heinlein collections I had.
It is impossible to convey how exciting this was.-a Secondly because it
was an unknown Heinlein, but mainly because it was a fantastic story.
Which is-a a roundabout way of saying, "read it, you'll like it".
William Hyde
Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 9/16/2026 9:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now
what?
https://reactormag.com/four-stories-featuring-time-travel-of-a-sort/
Zero for four.
Of course, there is Heinlein's time travel story, "All You Zombies".
-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94%27
And his stories "The Door Into Summer" and
-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_into_Summer
"By His Bootstraps" (which I do not recall ever reading).
-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
At one point in high school I thought I'd read everything by Heinlein.
But then in the school library I stumbled across one of the very first hardbound (and it was indeed well bound) SF hardbacks - a volume twenty years older than the school itself.
Among many other great stories it contained "By His Bootstraps" which
was not in any of the various Heinlein collections I had.
On 9/17/26 3:28 PM, William Hyde wrote:
Don wrote:
Ted Nolan <tednolan> <ted@loft.tnolan.com> wrote:
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a "We do not care to risk it," he said. "We prefer to see to
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a it that all 'past' events, as recorded in the annals of >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a history as compiled prior to the era of time-travel, go >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a untouched. For the past fifty years of now-time the entire
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a previous span of history, thought to be fixed, has been >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a potentially fluid; yet we struggle to keep it fixed. Thus
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a we employ the Time Patrol to make certain that everything
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a will happen in the past exactly as it did happen, no matter
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a fascinating thing to consider? Why are there not twenty-two
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a Dajanis at loose in now-time? It stretches the intellect >>> -a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a to revolve such thoughts. Dismissed, dear ladies and
-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-a gentlemen, dismissed."
The above is an excerpt from UP THE LINE by Silverberg.
Beat me to it!
That'll teach me to dawdle in the afternoon.
Oh, it could be worse. Here's one extremely far-fetched example that somebody typing this post may or may not have experienced:
You could have seen the "Time Patrol" mentioned up there, and lazily
assumed this excerpt was from a Poul Anderson story that you were
forgetting details about, and were too lazy to go check out.
Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 9/16/2026 9:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time TravelrCa of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time...
now what?
https://reactormag.com/four-stories-featuring-time-travel-of-a-sort/
Zero for four.
Of course, there is Heinlein's time travel story, "All You Zombies".
-a-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94%27 >>
And his stories "The Door Into Summer" and
-a-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_into_Summer
"By His Bootstraps" (which I do not recall ever reading).
-a-a-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
At one point in high school I thought I'd read everything by Heinlein.
But then in the school library I stumbled across one of the very first hardbound (and it was indeed well bound) SF hardbacks - a volume twenty
years older than the school itself.
Among many other great stories it contained "By His Bootstraps" which
was not in any of the various Heinlein collections I had.
It is impossible to convey how exciting this was.-a Secondly because it
was an unknown Heinlein, but mainly because it was a fantastic story.
Which is-a a roundabout way of saying, "read it, you'll like it".
William Hyde
I looked at it and wondered where it was from because it wasn't a Poul >Anderson Time Patrol story.
In article <118hfdp$k08c$1@dont-email.me>,
William Hyde <wthyde1953@gmail.com> wrote:
Lynn McGuire wrote:
On 9/16/2026 9:12 AM, James Nicoll wrote:
Four Stories Featuring Time Travel|ore4-a of a Sort
It seems that you've been mysteriously transported through time... now >>>> what?
https://reactormag.com/four-stories-featuring-time-travel-of-a-sort/
Zero for four.
Of course, there is Heinlein's time travel story, "All You Zombies".
|e-a|e-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27%E2%80%94All_You_Zombies%E2%80%94%27
And his stories "The Door Into Summer" and
|e-a|e-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Door_into_Summer
"By His Bootstraps" (which I do not recall ever reading).
|e-a|e-a https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/By_His_Bootstraps
At one point in high school I thought I'd read everything by Heinlein.
But then in the school library I stumbled across one of the very first
hardbound (and it was indeed well bound) SF hardbacks - a volume twenty
years older than the school itself.
Among many other great stories it contained "By His Bootstraps" which
was not in any of the various Heinlein collections I had.
That would be _Adventures in Time and Space_ (edited by Healy and
McComas)?
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