In the previous post, the tale discussed reflected the modern interpretation of time travel stories – that is “as a means of finding redemption”. The story under consideration here, J.B. Ryan’s “The Mosaic,” is a more traditional time travel tale. This tale treats time travel as more than just some techno-oddity. It is a driving force behind the story.
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“The Mosaic” by J. B. Ryan was published in the July 1940 issue of Astounding Science-Fiction for the first and (to the best of my knowledge and research) only time.
The pulp magazine, Astounding Science-Fiction, has an involved and detailed publication history extending till today. Originally titled Astounding Stories of Super-Science, the inaugural issue was published in January, 1930.
In early 1931, the title was shortened to Astounding Stories. The magazine would go through multiple editors and owners. Today, this “pulp” magazine is found under the title Analog Science Fiction and Fact. The November/December 2022 issue being the most recently published.
J. B. Ryan is one of a group of pulp authors from those early days; in that there is absolutely no information available about him (again, to the best of my knowledge and research). This story is Ryan’s one and only published work.
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“The Past, my young friend, is a closely interrelated mosaic, and to remove any of the bits anywhere changes the shape and pattern of all the subsequent pieces.”
Story Synopsis:
First Section
The story opens with two friends, Abdul ibn Fhaij (an elder scholar) and Ismail (an Emir – a military commander) meeting after a long time. The old teacher had asked his former student to visit him. They are in the city of Far Damascus in the land of Atlantea, north of Maya. Fhaij is a world renowned scientist and inventor; famous for numerous technological creations including artificial light. They are waited upon by Fhaij’s Algonquin slave.
Fhaij takes Ismail to his laboratory and reveals to Ismail his latest wonder – a time machine! Fhaij sends a rabbit back in time to show the machine’s workings to Ismail. But something is not right; the rabbit cannot be brought back to their present. Fhaij sent for Ismail, his most promising student to help solve this problem.
In talking over the various possibilities why the test subjects were not returning, Ismail, ever a man of action, decided that he himself would be the next to travel back in time. They determined to use the time machine to place Ismail across the Atlantic into Europe, a thousand years in the past.
Side Note Regarding Dates, part 1
The dates presented in this story are vital to the progression and outcome of this tale. First, the story opens with a date in the Muslim calendar – Rabi ul-thani 29, 1359. Using a calendar conversion app (www.islamicity.org), this date converts to the Gregorian calendar date of June 5, 1940. Therefore, this story’s first section takes place on June 5, 1940 in our calendar. Please keep this in mind.
Second Section
This next part opens with Ismail instantly transported from Fhaij’s laboratory to lying in a grassy field. He is at once approached by a group of men armed and garbed from a thousand years before. To Ismail, they looked European, but these men did not appear to be part of the great Moslem pan-European state. They looked far more barbaric. Ismail greeted the men in Arabic. The men rushed Ismail and subdued him, thinking him to be a Saracen spy.
The thought occurred to Ismail that Fhaij had sent him to the wrong time. In talking to his captors, Ismail realized that he had gone farther back in time than he originally thought. He discovered he was in the year 732 – before the Muslim conquest of Europe – when war still raged!
Ismail’s life was spared by Duke Charles Martel. Then Ismail realized the exact date of his arrival in the past:
“This was the eve of the great battle of Tours in which the followers of the Prophet were to annihilate the army of the Franks.” (Page 46)
Later, Ismail found himself admiring Duke Charles and wished he could warn the Duke of his impending death. Ismail knew from his study of history that Charles was fated to die in a few hours. And thus, Duke Charles would not be alive to command the Frankish armies against the Moslem at the battle of Tours.
Over dinner, Charles treated Ismail as an honored guest; going so far as to allow Ismail to carry Charles’ own sword as Ismail’s own. They parted for the night.
Later, Ismail was awoken by sounds outside his quarters and saw three men hiding in the shadows. He had wondered how Charles died on the eve of this battle. Now he knew – Assassination!
Ismail confronted the three assassins, fought and slew them at the very moment Charles should have died at the traitor’s hand. As the last assassin expired, Ismail was gone, history was rewritten and Charles now lived to command his armies against the Moslems the next day.
“And with him into nothingness, across the gulf of Time; went Abdul ibn Fhaij, the city of Far Damascus, all the transatlantic Moslems, leaving in their place–” (page 50)
Epilogue
New York, June 4, 1940
Two friends, a young man Robert Moulton and the older Professor McLeod are discussing old English history. Moulton says that if he had a time machine, he would warn the Saxons of the coming of the Normans in 1066. The Professor warns him that:
“The Past, my young friend, is a closely interrelated mosaic, and to remove any of the bits anywhere changes the shape and pattern of all the subsequent pieces.” (Page 50)
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In Search of Atonement:
The Meaning Behind Modern Time Travel Tales.
The sins of our past haunt us.
Time travel tales allow the reader, even if only through fiction, to right past wrong. This post continues the new occasional series by exploring a more traditional time travel tale.
This section will expand as more blog posts are added to this series. Each time travel story or film will be as a rung on a ladder leading to a richer understanding of the search for atonement and redemption.
Pivot Point in Time
A staple of many time travel stories is what I have termed here, the “Pivot Point in Time” concept. Very basically, history, in the large sense, hinges on a single action or event. In the unbelievably vast number of instances, actions, events, or even lives, can have their history, fate, destiny altered and the resulting impact on the greater timeline would be negligible – if at all. However, in a few select instances, a single action can have such a far-reaching impact that it becomes a hinge or pivot point for all of history itself. There are many examples of this as a time-travel trope. Indeed, this blog began its deep dive into time-travel fiction by covering Stephen King’s masterwork – 11/22/63: A Novel. So for example, let us consider two historic events – the assassination of JFK, a.k.a. 11/22/63 and one of the occasions that Adolph Hitler escaped certain death during World War I.
First, Hitler – I personally cannot confirm nor disprove this event therefore I will treat it as apocryphal. However, as Hitler himself is said to have recalled it, it will be given some credence. The narrative goes that during World War I, while taking shelter in a dugout during an artillery barrage, Hitler claimed to have heard an unknown voice telling him to leave the shelter at once. Moments later, a shell landed in the dugout killing the occupants. This anecdote was claimed to highlight the belief that Hitler had an anointed future to fulfill.
Second, 11/22/63 – This novel concerns one of the most often used major historical events as the subject of this time-travel story. A “lone gunman” assassinates an American President, most probably changing the entire course of history. Here, a time portal is used to go back and stop J.F.K.’s assassination. Amazingly, the time traveler succeeds and J.F.K. is saved! Upon the time travelers return to his original time, he finds that the world has fallen into an even worse state. Saving J.F.K. actually made the world a more dreadful place!
This introduces a very profound point of understanding – that being successful in a time travel tale doesn’t necessarily result in the best outcome as in the above J.F.K. example. As readers (actual people, not characters in a story), we only know what we know. In other words, how history really played out in this timeline. But also consider the example with a young Hitler, what if that unknown voice, by saving Hitler, might not have spared the world from an even more horrid fate!
All this leads to “The Mosaic.”
Here, the pivot point is stopping the assassins from murdering Duke Charles Martel; thereby ensuring that he would lead the Frankish army against the Moslem forces. This act – saving the life of this one man – lead to the Franks defeating the Moslem army and stopping their conquest of Europe. Their fight would go on until early 1492 when the last Moorish leader in Spain surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella.
The results of the pivot point shifted all subsequent history into what is, in fact, the reality we live in now. However, whether this “pivot” was for the better is openly debatable. Granted the resultant timeline is our current one, so it is natural that we should prefer it. But based on the first part of the story, the Moslem empire seemed to be stable, strong and civilized. Not perfect, but. . .
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“The Mosaic” was written as a science fiction / time travel story exploring the awesome and ironic nature of such fiction. But unlike the adventurous aspect to other time travel tales, this one is more thoughtful in the implications of its outcome. What might it mean for the truth of our reality?
Good Evening.
