Online čitanka četvrtkom: Vremeplovci

Kad tražimo teme koje obilježavaju SF kao žanr, putovanje kroz vrijeme nam se nameće među prvima. Ima li što karakterističnije za SF, osim možda svemirskih brodova? Put kroz vrijeme nam daje odgovore na pitanja poput Od kuda smo došli? i Kamo idemo?, ali nas istovremeno suočava i s nizom paradoksa i dubljih filozofskih pitanja, poput problema slobodne volje ili Kamo ćemo na ručak?

Četkica za zube, sapun, tri knjige... Spreman!

Motivi putovanja kroz vrijeme se pojavljuju vrlo rano, još u epovima starih naroda, no ono je uvijek bilo prouzročeno vanjskim silama i putnik nije mogao birati svoje odredište.  Sam koncept vremenskog stroja prvi spominje Enrique Gaspar y Rimbau u svojoj knjizi El Anacronópete iz 1887. Pojam “vremenski stroj” je prvi osmislio H. G. Wells, koji je i popularizirao ideju putovanja kroz vrijeme u istoimenom romanu iz 1895. godine. No, romanu je prethodila manje poznata Wellsova priča napisana 7 godina ranije: The Chronic Argonauts.

About half-a-mile outside the village of Llyddwdd by the road that goes up over the eastern flank of the mountain called Pen-y-pwll to Rwstog is a large farm-building known as the Manse. It derives this title from the fact that it was at one rime the residence of the minister of the Calvinistic Methodists. It is a quaint, low, irregular erection, lying back some hundred yards from the railway, and now fast passing into a ruinous state.

Since its construction in the latter half of the last century this house has undergone many changes of fortune, having been abandoned long since by the farmer of the surrounding acres for less pretentious and more commodious headquarters. Among others Miss Carnot, “the Gallic Sappho” at one time made it her home, and later on an old man named Williams became its occupier. The foul murder of this tenant by his two sons was the cause of its remaining for some considerable period uninhabited; with the inevitable consequence of its undergoing very extensive dilapidation.

Čim se počelo putovati u prošlost, neizbježna stanica je postao mezozoik. Fascinacija dinosaurusima traje još i danas. Ray Bradburry je 1952. u priči A Sound of Thunder opisao lov na dinosaure, ali i posljedice sitnih promjena u prošlosti. Prema nekim izvorima, riječ je o najreizdavanijoj priči od 1984. do 2008.

The sign on the wall seemed to quaver under a film of sliding warm water. Eckels felt his eyelids blink over his stare, and the sign burned in this momentary darkness:

TIME SAFARI, INC.
SAFARIS TO ANY YEAR IN THE PAST.
YOU NAME THE ANIMAL.
WE TAKE YOU THERE.
YOU SHOOT IT.

Warm phlegm gathered in Eckels’ throat; he swallowed and pushed it down. The muscles around his mouth formed a smile as he put his hand slowly out upon the air, and in that hand waved a check for ten thousand dollars to the man behind the desk.

“Does this safari guarantee I come back alive?”

“We guarantee nothing,” said the official, “except the dinosaurs.”

Hors D'oeuvres?

Scherzo with Tyrannosaur Michaela Swanwicka iz 1999. je po mnogima jedna od njegovih najboljih priča. Rješavanje paradoksa i problema prilikom putovanja kroz vrijeme ne bi trebalo biti teško ispraviti slanjem upozorenja u prošlost… Ili? Scherzo with Tyrannosaur je 2000. godine osvojio Huga, a između ostalih, bio je nominiran i za nagrade Locus i Nebula.

A keyboardist was playing a selection of Scarlotti’s harpsichord sonatas, brief pieces one to three minutes long, very complex and refined, while the Hadrosaurus herd streamed by the window. There were hundreds of the brutes, kicking up dust and honking that lovely flattened near-musical note they make. It was a spectacular sight.

But the hors d’oeuvres had just arrived: plesiosaur wrapped in kelp, beluga smeared over sliced maiasaur egg, little slivers of roast dodo on toast, a dozen delicacies more. So a stampede of common-as-dirt herbivores just couldn’t compete.

Nobody was paying much attention.

Kad smo već kod mogućih paradoksa, teško je ne spomenuti Roberta A. Heinleina i jednu od najpoznatijih priča vezanih uz putovanja kroz vrijeme, —All You Zombies— . To je ovdje kome otac, a kome majka? Ako pogubite konce, evo i grafikona za lakše snalaženje.¹

I was polishing a brandy snifter when the Unmarried Mother came in. I noted the time-10: 17 P. M. zone five, or eastern time, November 7th, 1970. Temporal agents always notice time and date; we must.

The Unmarried Mother was a man twenty-five years old, no taller than I am, childish features and a touchy temper. I didn’t like his looks – I never had – but he was a lad I was here to recruit, he was my boy. I gave him my best barkeep’s smile.

Maybe I’m too critical. He wasn’t swish; his nickname came from what he always said when some nosy type asked him his line: “I’m an unmarried mother. — If he felt less than murderous he would add: “at four cents a word. I write confession stories. –

A da se Dino pobrine za Adolfa?

U redu, ostavimo rodbinu po strani i pogledajmo čim bi se još mogli pozabaviti u prošlosti. Možda riješiti neke nepravde i spasiti milijune ljudi? Recimo, riješiti se Hitlera?² To je palo na pamet i Desmondu Warselu 2007. godine, kad je ideju razradio u priči Wikihistory. Rezultat je možda smiješan, ali je itekako realan …

11/15/2104
At 14:52:28, FreedomFighter69 wrote:
Reporting my first temporal excursion since joining IATT: have just returned from 1936 Berlin, having taken the place of one of Leni Riefenstahl’s cameramen and assassinated Adolf Hitler during the opening of the Olympic Games. Let a free world rejoice!

At 14:57:44, SilverFox316 wrote:
Back from 1936 Berlin; incapacitated FreedomFighter69 before he could pull his little stunt. Freedomfighter69, as you are a new member, please read IATT Bulletin 1147 regarding the killing of Hitler before your next excursion. Failure to do so may result in your expulsion per Bylaw 223.

At 18:06:59, BigChill wrote:
Take it easy on the kid, SilverFox316; everybody kills Hitler on their first trip.

 

Xaotix

Mirko Karas je zamjenik glavne urednice NOSF-a, pisac u pokušaju, obožavatelj svih sportova na vodi u bilo kojem agregatnom stanju i potpredsjednik društva SFera. Ne piše blog, ne voli Twitter, a Facebook još manje.

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1. Naravno, da bi postali sami svoj djed nije vam potreban vremeplov, iako vam se neke stvari moraju posložiti. Recept možete pronaći u pjesmi I’m  my Own Gradnpaw.[↩]
2. Iz nekog razloga, ovo praktički nikad ne uspijeva.[↩]