Time Patrol 1
Time Patrol
by Poul Anderson
In the first of a long series of hallowed stories, former military engineer (and
noncomformist) Manse Everard is recruited by the Time Patrol to prevent time travelers
from making major changes to history. (Don’t worry, history bounces back from the small
stuff.)
— Michael Main
If you went back to, I would guess, 1946, and worked to prevent your parents’ marriage
in 1947, you would still have existed in that year; you would not go out of existence
just because you had influenced events. The same would apply even if you had only been in
1946 one microsecond before shooting the man who would otherwise have become your father.
“Time Patrol” by Poul Anderson, Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, May 1955.