Read Online The Temporal Knights by Richard D. Parker - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Richard D. Parker
Ads: Link
Lemay’s tactical mind, which was undoubtedly the best in the group.
“Let’s expand by half a klick, remember this is not a very mobile era,” the General finally replied, silently chiding himself for not having thought of the possibility. He needed to pull himself out of the future and begin to live in the past. He needed to understand the people of the times. It was a guarantee that those currently in power would not be happy about their arrival, and in fact most would probably resent and resist it.
“Have two hummer crews constantly on alert, just in case we underestimate them,” he added.
“Caution,” was all Lemay said, agreeing.
“I’m no scholar of history, but I have a feeling that the men of this era will be aggressive against us and our mission; very aggressive, probably overly so, at least until we teach them a little caution,” Peebles added. “Send for Rice. I’d like to know as much as possible about this time and its people.”
Rice appeared about five minutes later, saluting as he entered. “You wanted to see me Sir.”
Peebles nodded. “While we’re waiting for the last of the hummers, I’d like to learn a bit more about the time we’re in; what the people are like; what their leaders are like.”
“Well Sir, that’s not going to be easy,” Rice explained. “For one we don’t really know exactly what year it is. If our crossover was accurate then the histories are relatively scarce and full of holes. It was a wild, mostly lawless time. Oh, we know of major achievements, mostly battles, but what an individual person will be like, or what an entire people are like is really unknown, hearsay mostly. It’s highly likely that even the most scholarly will seem brutish by our standards.”
“Brutish?”
“Yes,” Rice said moving over to the desk and picking up the General’s tablet.
“Very few could read, mostly monks and the like, and even fewer could write. The sum of all their knowledge came from word of mouth, stories and tales of great deeds. There were no books for the common man, no television or radio, very little traveling, and that was archaically slow, and almost exclusively for the rich or the criminal. Many were born, lived out their lives, and died in the very same village of only a few hundred people. Most probably met only a few thousand people during their entire lives; it was a very isolated time. News spread very slowly. Of course in the larger towns, like London, a greater degree of sophistication can be expected. But believe me; we will come across some very strange and amusing concepts. But please don’t misunderstand that for a lack of intelligence. Men of this time are still men, very cunning, very fast learners and very adaptable. They will be just as clever as any of us, and as dangerous. By brutish, I’m just saying that they are more likely to be cruel and prone to violence, what was seen as common place justice here will strike us as unnecessarily vicious and gruesome. This was a dangerous time when most often might made right.”
Peebles remained thoughtful for a moment.
“Assuming the Door was at least a bit accurate,” Rice continued and called up an old painting of a bearded king on the tablet, “say around the year 880 to 890, then lower England was ruled by a King called Alfred, Alfred the Great actually. He ruled from about 871 to about 899, and it was under his rule that the most of the island actually became united. Before Alfred, lower England was ruled piecemeal by dozens of Kings, mostly Saxon, Angles, and Welsh. Alfred united and rallied his people, and defeated the Danes on several different occasions.”
“Danes?”
“Vikings, and they were a tough group to handle, raiders mostly come to pillage and not for true conquest. It would take a very strong ruler to pull a country together and drive them out. But like I said, personality doesn’t come through all that well in the history books. I suppose we can assume Alfred will
“Let’s expand by half a klick, remember this is not a very mobile era,” the General finally replied, silently chiding himself for not having thought of the possibility. He needed to pull himself out of the future and begin to live in the past. He needed to understand the people of the times. It was a guarantee that those currently in power would not be happy about their arrival, and in fact most would probably resent and resist it.
“Have two hummer crews constantly on alert, just in case we underestimate them,” he added.
“Caution,” was all Lemay said, agreeing.
“I’m no scholar of history, but I have a feeling that the men of this era will be aggressive against us and our mission; very aggressive, probably overly so, at least until we teach them a little caution,” Peebles added. “Send for Rice. I’d like to know as much as possible about this time and its people.”
Rice appeared about five minutes later, saluting as he entered. “You wanted to see me Sir.”
Peebles nodded. “While we’re waiting for the last of the hummers, I’d like to learn a bit more about the time we’re in; what the people are like; what their leaders are like.”
“Well Sir, that’s not going to be easy,” Rice explained. “For one we don’t really know exactly what year it is. If our crossover was accurate then the histories are relatively scarce and full of holes. It was a wild, mostly lawless time. Oh, we know of major achievements, mostly battles, but what an individual person will be like, or what an entire people are like is really unknown, hearsay mostly. It’s highly likely that even the most scholarly will seem brutish by our standards.”
“Brutish?”
“Yes,” Rice said moving over to the desk and picking up the General’s tablet.
“Very few could read, mostly monks and the like, and even fewer could write. The sum of all their knowledge came from word of mouth, stories and tales of great deeds. There were no books for the common man, no television or radio, very little traveling, and that was archaically slow, and almost exclusively for the rich or the criminal. Many were born, lived out their lives, and died in the very same village of only a few hundred people. Most probably met only a few thousand people during their entire lives; it was a very isolated time. News spread very slowly. Of course in the larger towns, like London, a greater degree of sophistication can be expected. But believe me; we will come across some very strange and amusing concepts. But please don’t misunderstand that for a lack of intelligence. Men of this time are still men, very cunning, very fast learners and very adaptable. They will be just as clever as any of us, and as dangerous. By brutish, I’m just saying that they are more likely to be cruel and prone to violence, what was seen as common place justice here will strike us as unnecessarily vicious and gruesome. This was a dangerous time when most often might made right.”
Peebles remained thoughtful for a moment.
“Assuming the Door was at least a bit accurate,” Rice continued and called up an old painting of a bearded king on the tablet, “say around the year 880 to 890, then lower England was ruled by a King called Alfred, Alfred the Great actually. He ruled from about 871 to about 899, and it was under his rule that the most of the island actually became united. Before Alfred, lower England was ruled piecemeal by dozens of Kings, mostly Saxon, Angles, and Welsh. Alfred united and rallied his people, and defeated the Danes on several different occasions.”
“Danes?”
“Vikings, and they were a tough group to handle, raiders mostly come to pillage and not for true conquest. It would take a very strong ruler to pull a country together and drive them out. But like I said, personality doesn’t come through all that well in the history books. I suppose we can assume Alfred will
Similar Books
