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Structure
Interesting Questions, Facts and Information
- There are a total of 25 general entries.
Special Topics
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Interesting Questions, Facts, and Information
Baxter, Stephen
We never learn it.. Throughout the whole novel he is referred to as the Traveller, otherwise it is the Traveller narrating the story. Maybe Traveller is his name, but it is not confirmed in the novel.
The Traveller and Nebogipfel travel approximately one million years forward in time.. The Constructors were building time-ships to go back to the beginning of time. Since the Traveller built the first time-machine and because the Traveller and Nebogipfel crash landed on the Constructors doorsteps, the Constructors invited them along. The Traveller and Nebogipfel had to travel forward in time to when the Constructors completed their fleet of time-ships, from there the Traveller and Nebogipfel plan to travel all the was back to the beginning of time.
Constructors. The Traveller refers to them as, "the mechanical heirs of man." Constructors are the beings that live in the White World; the Constructors are very intelligent and immortal.
Nebogipfel calls it a "White Earth" because it has entered a permanent ice age.. New-London made new cities in the Earth's atmosphere, and then moved on. The descendants of New London altered the moon and the stars. The Earth's ecosystems were depleted and damaged sending Earth into a final ice-age. Nebogipfel refers to it as a "White Earth" because it is covered in ice and snow and will remain that way.
In the time-machine seasons and civilizations pass in a blur; were the Traveller and Nebogipfel able to determine if the colony, New London, survived? | "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter
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The Traveller and Nebogipfel watched New London grow and thrive over millions of years. New London, by 1891, had already moved to the stars.. New London grew into cities. Eventually those cities were built on platforms in the Earth's atmosphere and eventually abandoned the Earth.
British soldiers found the Traveller and Nebogipfel and had set up a boot camp; unfortunately the Germans found them also. The Germans dropped a bomb on the British settlement, destroying almost everything as well as killing three quarters on the soldiers. In the wake of this destruction, how do the Traveller and Nebogipfel manage to continue with time-travel? | "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter
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Nebogipfel scavenged through the wreckage, gathering enough parts to build a new time-machine.. While assisting building a colony with the surviving soldiers, which the group named New London, Nebogipfel scavenged parts. With these parts Nebogipfel built a time-machine and with this machine the Traveller and Nebogipfel once again entered the "River of Time."
Nebogipfel and the Traveller took a prototype of a time-machine to escape the war torn world. Since the time-machine was a prototype, and not tested, when did these two end up?
| "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter
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Paleocene Era. While trying to leave 1938 in a unknown time-machine, Moses was killed. The time-machine built by the British was uncompleted so Nebogipfel and Traveller were unable to set a destination. The Machine went backwards in time, instead of forward, stopping only when it ran out of the energy that powered it. When it stopped, it crashed, leaving the two of them temporarily stranded (we are only in the middle of the book). In a world of dinosaurs Nebogipfel almost became a meal for one.
It is their shared first name, which neither of them used.. As an adult, neither use the name Moses. In both time lines the Traveller and the younger version were teased as children over it.
The Traveller managed to re-claim the time-machine; using the time-machine he went back to his era (not the exact year). Who did the Traveller confront in this era? | "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter
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Himself at twenty-six. When the Traveller accessed the time-machine, Nebogipfel, at the last moment, threw himself on the machine. The Traveller with Nebogipfel returned to the year 1873, instead of 1891 the year the Traveller started from.
One of the captors, Nebogipfel, took the responsibility of the Traveller. Nebogipfel learns how to speak English and eventually allows the Traveller out of his cage. Where did Nebogipfel take him? | "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter
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Into the sphere, showing him where and how they lived.. Nebogipfel wanted the Traveller to explain how he time-machine worked. In return Nebogipfel agreed to show the Traveller the sphere and explain its history. Whenever the Traveller needed to rest, a small room would appear for him away from the other Morlocks.
A clear material that felt like warm leather.. In Traveller's cage he could see the darkness of space and the stars surrounding him. There was one spot of light and the rest was dark. In the light his captors placed a tray with food, water and a bucket for him to relieve himself. The Traveller's captors would replace the contents whenever he fell asleep. Traveller later discovers that he is no longer on earth but in a sphere.
Morlocks. Traveller found them surrounding the time-machine so he attacked, hitting one before becoming incapacitated himself. Later the Traveller finds out that the Morlocks was only injured and that it was a child.
292 495 940. On the Traveller's first trip he travelled 292 495 934 days into the future, so the Traveller wanted to return six days later. Traveller programed it for the day that he feels "lost Weena and much of my self esteem." Instead of travelling that far into the future he stopped the time-machine after travelling only 239 354 634 days.
In the prologue, the Traveller explains how he built a time-machine and tested it. Traveller used it to travel to the future and back to his own time. What year does the Traveller call his time period? | "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter
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1891. The prologue is reminiscent of H. G. Wells' book "The Time Machine". The Traveller has built a time-machine, used it to travel forward to 802 701 AD, and then returned to 1981. We learn this while the Traveller is planning the next trip to the future in the time-machine.
Photino Victory. "Vacuum Diagrams" is divided into a prologue, seven eras, and a epilogue. The seven eras are; Expansion, Squeem Occupation, Qax Occupation, Assimilation, The War to End Wars, Flight and Photino Victory. Both the prologue and the epilogue are titled Eve.
Lieserl aged one year for every one day she lived.. When Lieserl was ninety days old she died an old woman of ninety. The scientists of that era engineered Lieserl using human DNA so that she could understand and sympathize with humanity. Just before Lieserl's body died her consciousness was placed into a program to monitor the sun, in attempt to monitor and control solar activity.
A flower. Jones was sent into the XeeLee city by the Squeem in hopes of finding something valuable to salvage. On the way back to the Squeem ship Jones figures out how to use the flower and he uses it to save his life, as well as a robot.
The Earth's moon.. The moon, in a long forgotten battle, had been used to assault the Ring. Eventually, after using the moon as a weapon it was abandoned and left to a few survivors. These survivors, millions of light years from Earth, either died or abandoned the moon making it an artifact for future generations.
Boyd. In 4 101 214 AD, Boyd is the leader of one of the small bands of humans left in the universe. The humans live in a world constructed by the XeeLee, which has started to fall apart.
Mike Poole. Using the stable wormholes humans were able to travel great distances in space. The advances in space travel led to the discovery of new worlds and new species.
Jack allowed the aliens to turn him into one of them, a Silver Ghost.. Jack's brain and spinal cord, along with a few other organs, were put into the mechanical body of a Silver Ghost. This allowed him to travel to their world.
Eight Rooms. In this era the mummy-cows provide nourishment, companionship and warmth for the humans. In the place of Eight Rooms, if the humans can figure out how to use the rooms, particularly the eighth, the last of humanity may be able to escape their dying world.
Chiron. Rather than return to a occupied Earth, to have their space ships dismantled, the refugees made their home on an "ice dwarf". The refugees worked together to colonize Chiron while working on a plan to escape the Squeem.
Era: Expansion. Each era covers a future time period for humans, telling us about the events of humans and alien species during that time. The first era is dated 3672 AD, the last era in the book begins in 4 101 214 AD.
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