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of Eternity." He finished it on February 6, 1954, and sent the 25,000-word story off to Horace Gold at Galaxy. Three days later Gold called him and wanted a complete revision. Asimov refused, and on March 17 he left the manuscript with Bradbury at Doubleday to see if it had possibilities as a novel. On April 7 Bradbury offered a contract. By now, the advance had climbed to $1,250. |
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The End of Eternity is about reality manipulation. In the 24th century Vikkor Mallansohn discovered the Temporal Field that made possible existence outside time and travel between times. In the 27th century, an organization was created to travel outside of time, in what was called "Eternity." At first, the organization existed mostly to handle trade between Centuries, but gradually it began to alter Reality by changing key events that were calculated to improve the general good of humanity. "The greatest good of the greatest number" became the working principle of Eternity. |
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Asimov imagined the system in thorough detail. He peopled Eternity with maintenance personnel, who keep physical facilities operating, and administrators. The emphasis of the novel, however, is upon a third group, those Eternals, as they are called, who actually operate upon Reality: Observers, who gather data about the various Times; Sociologists, who calculate the effects of change on society; Life-Plotters, who calculate the effects of change on individuals; Computers, who analyze the individual acts that will produce the desired changes; and Technicians, who effect the changes in Reality. The ideal is the Minimum Necessary Change (MNC) for the Maximum Desired Response (MDR). The Technicians are the scapegoats of Eternity. Reality-changing results in guilt feelings among the Eternals, and they displace this onto the Technicians who actually accomplish the changes. |
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Eternals are recruited from various Centuries after the creation of Eternity. They are men, always men because women have ten times the impact on Reality and men's absence from Reality will cause the least effect. They are recruited into Eternity as fifteen-year-olds, educated for ten years, spend an indefinite period of time as Observers (physiotime it is called, to distinguish it from Time in Reality), and then, if successful, become Specialists. If they are not successful, they become maintenance men. As Andrew Harlan reflects at one point, "The life of an Eternal may be divided into four parts: Timer . . . Cub . . . Observer . . . Specialist." |
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Eternity started with only a few Centuries. Maintenance of its existence outside Time requires great expenditures of power; it became possible only by tapping the nova that the sun eventually becomes. |
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