The Start of Eternity/meta

This page is for planning The Start of Eternity.

1) Imagine that life is fairly common in the universe, but development of species with the ability to invent and use interstellar space travel is a rare event. Imagine that interstellar space travel (based on hyperspatial jumps) is finally developed by a biological life form which sends out explorers with the goal of finding worlds that have life and modifying that life to make it evolve as did their species, so as to be able to invent and use interstellar space travel. These aliens eventually reach our galaxy and genetically modify many species on many different planets, including Earth. The aliens complete their work in our galaxy and move on to other galaxies. This creates the conditions for the story that is told in The End of Eternity.

2) Assume that the "hint" from Foundation's Edge is true: that Earth robots established Eternity and use Eternity as a tool to "select" a reality in which humans alone spread and dominate the worlds of our galaxy. Everything is just as Asimov originally described it in his work, right through the development of the Galactic Empire and the Foundation.

3) Now the fun begins! Assume that Noys was a liar. The "Basic State" is not a human-dominated galaxy but, rather, a galaxy in which multiple species with space travel share the galaxy. Eventually, there is a new visit to our galaxy by more of the original aliens who seeded the galaxy (and Earth) so as to promote the development of multiple space-faring species. The aliens are now surprised to find that humans control the entire galaxy. The aliens eventually realize that humans developed time travel technology (something they had assumed to be impossible) and used it as a tool to accelerate their development of space travel. The aliens decide to try to return our galaxy to its true "Basic State".

4) The aliens are particularly unhappy with the fact that it was Earth's robots who created Eternity and that Earth's robots have exerted their control over the Galactic Empire, resulting in a "safe" but rather uninteresting galactic civilization (Galaxia). The sequel to "The end of eternity" starts after the end of Asimov's "Foundation and Earth". The aliens discover Daneel's base on Earth's Moon and learn that it retains a functioning portal to Eternity. The aliens initiate a project that will make use of time travel to return the galaxy to its true "Basic State". Someone must return to the 1930s and prevent Noys from completing her mission.