Timeline

“Some thought Marek carried his fascination with the past to the point of obsession. But in fact it was natural to him: even as a child, Marek had been strongly drawn to the medieval period, and in many ways he now seemed to inhabit it.”

André Marek is the character, along with Professor Johnston, who has the most affinity for the medieval world. This quotation foreshadows the decision that Marek ultimately makes at the end of Timeline, for he will decide to stay in the 14th century rather than return to the present with the others.

“Yet the truth was that the modern world was invented in the Middle Ages. Everything from the legal system, to nation-states, to reliance on technology, to the concept of romantic love had first been established in medieval times. These stockbrokers owed the very notion of a market economy to the Middle Ages. And if they didn’t know that, then they didn’t know the basic facts of who they were. Why they did what they did. Where they had come from.”

This quote articulates the theme of Similarities Between Past and Present. Many of the societal and economic structures that are taken for granted in the 20th century have their roots in innovations from medieval times. Marek is dismissive of Kate’s friends, the stockbrokers, because they do not understand these connections. Their ignorance of past history implies that they also lack a complete understanding of present realities.

“‘Therefore some universes exist at an earlier time?’

‘Yes. Actually, since they are infinite in number, the universes exist at all earlier times.’

Stern thought for a moment. ‘And you are telling us that ITC has the technology to travel to these other universes.’”

In this quote, Gordon reveals ITC’s teleportation technology and explains the scientific basis for how it works. Unlike other time travel science fiction scenarios, such as that found in H. G. Wells’s classic The Time Machine (1895), ITC”s technology does not transport travelers to earlier points in the current timeline. Instead, participants travel laterally into other universes that are still in the past. This method relies on multiverse theory.

“Many laboratories are now trying to build these quantum computers. Their advantage is unimaginably great power—so great that you can indeed describe and compress a three-dimensional living object into an electron stream. Exactly like a fax. You can then transmit the electron stream through a quantum foam wormhole and reconstruct it in another universe. And that’s what we do. It’s not quantum teleportation. It’s not particle entanglement. It’s direct transmission to another universe.”

Although it is an invention of science fiction, ITC’s technology is based on real quantum theories, namely those involving quantum computing, quantum foam, and multiverse theory. In the world of Timeline, objects are compressed in order to be transmitted. However, challenges arise when compression or decompression causes “transcription errors” that can result in injury, disfigurement, or death.

“Gordon had answered smoothly enough, but Stern was certain he had seen something—some buried glint of uneasiness—in Gordon’s eyes.

There is definitely something more.”

Gordon, one of the vice presidents of ITC, is extremely loyal to Doniger despite the latter’s unstable personality and ruthlessness. However, in this exchange, it becomes clear that Gordon is beginning to doubt Doniger’s policy of lying to the researchers about the danger of ITC’s technology. This exchange foreshadows his eventual betrayal of Doniger by sending him to Castelgard during a time of plague.

“‘We are going,’ she said, ‘to the Monastery of Sainte-Mère, on the Dordogne River, in southwestern France. We will arrive at 8:04 a.m. on the morning of Thursday, April 7, 1357—that’s the day of the Professor’s message.’”

Gomez is tasked with guiding the graduate students through 1357, and in this passage, she briefs them before their departure. She has arranged for them to go back to the day that the professor left the message for the students in the manuscript they unearthed in the monastery in 1999. The smooth, confident tone of her instructions stands as a sharp contrast to the chaos that they meet upon their arrival, especially given that Gomez will perish within the first few seconds.

“It upsets some people when they first arrive. There’s no ambient noise here: no radio or TV, no airplanes, no machinery, no passing cars. In the twentieth century, we’re so accustomed to hearing sound all the time, the silence feels creepy.”

The medieval world has many differences from the modern one, from the environment to languages and social expectations. Elements of these differences are immediately evident to the graduate students, although Kate is initially taken with how similar 1357 appears to their own world. In this quote, Gomez reassures Chris, who is taken aback by the lack of background noise in the medieval world. While Chris is initially uncomfortable, he later comes to adapt to the 14th century.

“Edward Johnston was wearing a doublet of dark blue, and black hose; the clothes were plain, with little decoration or embroidery, lending him a conservative, scholarly air. He could indeed pass for a London clerk on a pilgrimage, Marek thought. Probably that was the way Geoffrey Chaucer, another clerk of the time, had dressed on his own pilgrimage.”

Geoffrey Chaucer was a 14th-century English writer and civil servant best known for writing The Canterbury Tales (c. 1400), one of the first literary texts written in the English language. Marek’s comparison of the professor to this legendary figure suggests that much like Marek himself, Professor Johnston has quickly adapted to the medieval world.

“As he watched their aggressiveness and speed, Marek realized that left to his own devices, this was exactly the way he himself would choose to fight—quickly, with the conditioning and reserves of stamina to wear down an opponent. He had only imagined a slower fighting style from an unconscious assumption that men in the past were weaker or slower or less imaginative than he was, as a modern man.

Marek knew this assumption of superiority was a difficulty faced by every historian. He just hadn’t thought he was guilty of it.

But clearly, he was.”

One of the core themes of Timeline involves the Similarities Between Past and Present. In this quote, Marek articulates one point of comparison between people of the Middle Ages and the modern day. In so doing, he regrets his own assumptions that there were differences in strength and ability between people of his day and those of the past.

“The battle had begun. And in some detached part of his mind, Marek knew that this would be a fight to the death.”

In Timeline, Marek is the embodiment of True Chivalry and Honor. When Sir Guy challenges Chris to a duel, Marek steps in as his second, and when Sir Guy acts dishonorably in trying to trample Chris after he has surrendered, Marek bravely steps in to save his friend, even though he knows that he is risking his own life. This is just one instance in which Marek displays chivalric bravery in the text.

“‘The three rings of water. They’re absolutely essential.’

‘Why?’

‘To minimize transcription errors.’

Stern said, ‘And what exactly are transcription errors?’

‘Errors on the rebuild. When the person is reconstructed by the machine.’

‘You told me there weren’t any errors. That you could rebuild exactly.’”

In this exchange with Gordon, Stern learns that Doniger and the ITC employees have not been entirely honest with him and the other graduate assistants about the dangers of the teleportation technology. Gordon reveals that “transcription errors” can cause dramatic, dangerous side effects. The motif of transcription errors is emblematic of the differences or “misalignments” between the medieval world and the modern one, as well as of the risks that Doniger is willing to subject others to in pursuit of his selfish interests.

“Lord Oliver snorted. ‘You cannot be assistants.’ He looked from one to the other. ‘You are too old by ten year. And you gave no sign you knew the Magister, earlier in the day…You are not speaking sooth. None of you.’ He shook his head, turned to Sir Guy. ‘I do not believe them, and I will have the truth. But not now. Take them to the dungeon.’”

One of the motifs in Timeline is the variety of Medieval Languages. Even though the team members have simultaneous translation devices in their communication earpieces, some antiquated aspects of the language make it difficult to understand others. For instance, Lord Oliver calls the professor “Magister,” meaning “master” or “teacher,” and says they are not “speaking sooth” or, in modern English, “telling the truth.” This exchange also shows Lord Oliver’s paranoia and violence, which echoes Robert Doniger’s in the modern world.

“In the comfort of the library, he had read accounts of past violent acts, murder and slaughter. He had read descriptions of streets slippery with blood, soldiers soaked in red from head to foot, women and children eviscerated despite their piteous pleas. But somehow, Chris had always assumed these stories were exaggerated, overstated.”

Like Marek, Chris realizes that there is a difference between the study of history and the experience of it. He has underestimated the violence and danger of the events that he has only read about. His realization of this fact contributes to his transformation into a braver and more chivalrous man.

“‘Except there’s Stern,’ Kramer said. ‘He knows the whole story.’

‘That’s right.’

‘So you want to send him back, too. Get rid of him as well. Clean sweep.’

‘Not at all,’ Doniger said promptly. ‘Hey, I’m opposed to it. But the guy’s volunteering. He wants to help his friends. It’d be wrong for me to stand in the way.’

‘Bob,’ she said, ‘there are times when you are a real asshole.’”

One of Doniger’s dominant qualities is his ruthlessness and willingness to lie in order to get what he wants. In this exchange, Diane Kramer, who has previously been loyal to Doniger and has gone along with his cover-ups, begins to display some skepticism and doubt. Like Doniger’s vice president, Gordon, she ultimately turns against Doniger because of his ruthless qualities.

“This silent, black world was entirely alien to him, yet he quickly adjusted to it.”

Over the course of Timeline, Chris undergoes a transformation from a cautious, fussy person into someone who is brave and capable of navigating the medieval world. In this quote, he shows how far he has come in this transformation. He quickly adapts to the extreme darkness of a premodern world without artificial lights.

“The academic world seemed to be receding into the distance, vague and gray in memory, as he made his way down the dark hillside toward the river. Yet however frightened he was on this night, however tense and at risk of his life, it was entirely real in some way that was reassuring, even exhilarating, and—”

Both Marek and Chris come to embrace the intensity of medieval life. Unlike the modern world, and particularly academia, which is relatively calm and controlled, the medieval world is violent and perilous. In this quote, Chris describes the intensity of life in 1357 as “reassuring, even exhilarating.” No sooner does he have this thought when it is cut off because his attackers are on their trail, hence the em-dash at the end of the quote.

“This is the fourteenth century. A pink lump that talks in little voices is witchcraft. It’d be terrifying to anyone who found it. Whoever picked it up would drop it like a hot potato—and then crush it immediately. Or run like mad.”

To medieval people, modern technology seems like magic. The 14th century was a highly superstitious time before scientific theory, and people believed in magic as a reality. The graduate students use this understanding to deduce that there is someone else in 1357 who came from the modern world and knows how to use their communication devices.

“Squire, your countenance is most unjust. How dare you judge me? I am a gentle woman, alone in a foreign part, with no one to champion me, to protect or guide me. Yet I must make my way to Bordeaux, eighty leagues distant, and thence to England if I am to claim my husband’s lands. That is my duty as a widow, and in this time of war and tumult, I shall without hesitation do all that may be required to accomplish it.”

This quote from Lady Claire illustrates the limited opportunities for women, even noblewomen, in the medieval world. She is obligated to resort to subterfuge, and she uses men’s attraction to her to achieve her goals. In this case, the team realizes that she has been sleeping with the Abbot to secure his favor. 

“Marek pointed to the image. He mouthed, Map.

Because not at least it was all clear to him.

VIVIX wasn’t found in the dictionary, because it wasn’t a word.”

In this quote, Marek cracks the mysterious code that Brother Marcel used to indicate the location of the secret passage into La Roque. While “VIVIX” appears to be a word in Latin, it is actually a series of roman numerals indicating a number of steps: VI (6), VI (6), X (10).

“In twentieth-century historical accounts of this time, Sir Oliver was portrayed as something close to a soldier-saint, while de Cervole was a black figure, ‘one of the great evildoers of his age,’ in the words of one historian. Yet apparently the truth was just the opposite of the histories. Oliver was a despicable rogue, and Cervole a dashing exemplar of chivalry—to whom they now owed their lives.”

This quote reveals the way that contemporary understandings of medieval history may differ from the real historical facts. Medieval history in particular is often mythologized. Although Sir Oliver is described as a “soldier-saint,” he is actually more reminiscent of a violent, capricious warlord.

“Chris had the feeling that the knight’s English was not as good as he thought. He decided to try his Latin again, poor and archaic as it was.”

This quote highlights the motif of medieval languages. The people in 1357 cannot understand Chris’s modern English. As a result, he is obliged to resort to his academic, ancient Latin to communicate, which the medieval people find “archaic.”

“He remembered how Marek’s intensity had always amused the other graduate students—’Can you imagine? He really believes this chivalry shit!’—and how they had assumed his behavior was some kind of weird posturing. A role he was playing, an affectation. Because in the late twentieth century, you couldn’t seriously ask other people to think that you believed in honor and truth, and the purity of the body, the defense of women, the sanctity of true love, and all the rest of it.

But apparently, André really had believed it.”

This quote provides a description of the chivalric code. Marek embodies the best of these ideals. Here, Chris realizes the extent to which Marek takes the principles of chivalry seriously and uses them to guide his actions. The incredulity inherent in his reflections reveals just how little he has understood his colleague until this very moment, and his realization of Marek’s deep love for the time period foreshadows Marek’s decision to remain in 1357.

“‘Fuck reality,’ Doniger said, throwing one of their videotapes across the room. ‘What’s the matter with you people? I don’t care about reality. I want something intriguing, something sexy. You’re showing me a walking corpse and a drowned rat.’”

Doniger is disappointed by the realistic presentation of two great moments in American history: Lincoln’s delivery of the Gettysburg Address and Washington crossing of the Delaware. His contemptuous response highlights his dishonesty and hypocrisy. Despite his insistence to Professor Johnston and the researchers, he does not actually care about historical accuracy. Instead, he wants a form of “history” that is more reflective of myth: something more palatable that he can easily sell to tourists.