Brave to Be a King
- by Poul Anderson
- Novelette
- Science Fiction
- Adults
- Definite Time Travel
- English
- “Brave to Be a King” by Poul Anderson, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1959.
Patrolman Keith Denison uses some sketchy tactics (sketchy to the Patrol, that is) to track down his partner Keith Denison, who’s disappeared in the time of the Persian King Cyrus the Great,
—Michael Main
In the case of a missing man, you were not required to search for him just because a record somewhere said you had done so. But how else would you stand a chance of finding him? You might possibly go back and thereby change events so that you did find him after all—in which case the report you filed would “always” have recorded your success, and you alone would know the “former” truth.
Tags
(21)
- Time Periods
- Ancient History (3000 BC to AD 476: Bronze/Iron Ages): sixth century B. C.
- Circa AD 1950 to 1959: mid-20th century
- Timeline Models
- Multiple Naive Timelines: The patrolmen discuss rewriting time, but details of how things work are swept under the Persian carpet.
- Resilient Timeline: The small differences damp out in days or years, negative feedback.
- Sensing Unfamiliar Timelines: Agents who effect changes remember the pre-change timeline.
- Pruned Timeline: After the agents save baby Cyrus, it is as if the timeline with Denison as Cyrus had never existed. It’s been a long time, even if it never happened.
- Time Travel Methods
- Time Fliers: time hoppers
- Themes
- Save “Jimmy”!: Manse aims to save his best bud, Denison.
- Traveler Becomes a God, Royalty, Wizard, etc.: Denison becomes Cyrus the Great
- Traveler Becomes Historical Figure: Cyrus the Great
- Real-World Tags
- Groupings
Variants
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- “Brave to Be a King” by Poul Anderson, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, August 1959.