Line #1 Literature/TimeLag


1	"Time Lag" is a short story by Creator/PoulAnderson.
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3	On the planet Vaynamo, Elva is completing her circuit as the representative of her husband the Freeholder when their holding is attacked. She manages to get her infant son to an Alfavala -- one of the marginally intelligent aliens of this planet -- but her husband is killed, and she, taken captive. The fleet commander takes her as his concubine, and she tries to use the position to her best advantage, learning of how his overpopulated planet, Chertkoi, is conquering others for resources, despite using a slower-than-light travel (with relativistic TimeDilation).
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6	!!Tropes
7	* {{Arcadia}}: Vaynamo, rural, peaceful, and happy.
8	* ArtificialGravity: During the years before the final Chertkoi attack, Vaynamo develops gravitic-force weapons and gravity manipulation drives that allow their fighters to [[InertialDampening maneuver at dozens of Gs acceleration]] and run rings around the invaders.
9	* BittersweetEnding: Elva loses a lot.
10	* BlueBlood: Elva and her husband hold some hereditary position.
11	* DamselOutOfDistress: Elva never fights, but her resistance is unending.
12	* DeadGuyJunior: Elva learns of one at the end.
13	* DisproportionateRetribution: The attack at the beginning is one of several, to wipe out villages because the planet resisted.
14	* DoWithHimAsYouWill: Elva's people offer to punish Bors in any way she sees fit. She tells them to just shoot him.
15	* TheEmpire: Chertkoi has conquered many planets already.
16	* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Why not just dispossess the Alfavala?
17	* FeudalFuture: Power is hereditary.
18	* FishOutOfTemporalWater: Her rescuers quickly assure her that she's welcome, even though she's now younger than her own son.
19	* HappilyMarried: Elva in the opening .
20	* HappinessInSlavery: Elva convinces Bors she is happy. [[spoiler:It’s a sign of his limited world view that he believes it]].
21	* HookedUpAfterwards: One fellow prisoner hopes she will let him visit at the end.
22	* LukeYouAreMyFather: In "Time Lag", Elva is told by another of her rescuers that one of them is her grandson; then he immediately takes her hands.
23	* MoralMyopia: Chertkoi, apparently. Bors embodies it, not even comprehending resistance.
24	* MosesInTheBulrushes: Elva sends off her son from the attack.
25	* NonIdleRich: Elva and her husband.
26	* PeopleOfHairColor: Vaynamo is inhabited by blue-eyed blonds -- with slanted eyes, to tweak the PhenotypeStereotype.
27	* PopulationControl: Vaynamo has stablized its population; Chertkoi regards them as hoarding resources.
28	* RockBeatsLaser: Defeat by the rural Vaynamo, lacking in industry, astounds Chertkoi. Averted in the final battle, which Vaynamo wins by straightforward technological superiority.
29	* SexSlave: Elva is picked out as a concubine.
30	* ServantRace: The Alfavala have chosen this role.
31	* ThickerThanWater: Elva is told at the end about how her son survived, and has descendents, so that she is not alone.
32	* TimeDilation: Elva ends up only a few years older, while her infant son is now old, and indeed, has an infant grandson.

Context Literature / TimeLag