Well, there were no ancient artifacts here, just futuristic ones. There were no volcanoes, just chimneys here and there. And, while these ladies certainly were showing a lot of leg, Geoffrey was quite sure they weren't courtesans.
In fact, Geoffrey was pretty sure they were upper class. Whoever heard of servants wearing spotless white outfits, outdoors?
So there was no reason for intervention on Geoffrey's part, none at all.
Anyway, Geoffrey was enjoying the view.
Grantville Public Library
July 1633
"Excuse me, but the guard tells me that your name is Thomas Hobbes. Is that right?"
Hobbes frowned at the woman who had just accosted him. "Yes, I am. Mister Thomas Hobbes, a bachelor of Oxford University, and tutor to the third earl of Devonshire."
"Well, that's great. I read your book."
"My book? You mean my translation of Thucydides? I hadn't expected that anyone in Grantville would have heard of it."
"Thucydides?"
"Yes, Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War."
"No, no. Leviathan."
"Leviathan?"
"Oh, yes, I had to read it in school." She put her hand to her mouth. "I forgot. You might not have written it yet."
It had not even occurred to Hobbes that his name would be remembered, and his writings read, four centuries in the future.
"Is Leviathan about my contributions to geometry? Did I publish my method of squaring the circle? Am I a famous mathematician of your past?"
"Um, Leviathan is about politics. The 'Leviathan' is the government and, uh, that's all I remember."
That was even more of a surprise. Since he had not written anything about political philosophy yet.
"Is there anywhere I can find a copy of this Leviathan?" Hobbes was a firm believer in predestination, but this was getting ridiculous.
"We have a copy here, and there should be stuff about you in the encyclopedias."
"About me?"
"Just don't weird out when you read the date you died. The Ring of Fire changed history. And even little changes, like who was where on a particular day, can add up to become big ones. Anyway, gotta run."
Hobbes sighed. If the library lady knew about him, it was certain that others did, too. Half the down-timers in the Grantville Public Library were probably there as spies for someone else. Hobbes realized that he had best find out what the books of the future had to say about him.
As if he didn't already have enough to worry about. He had, as instructed, looked up various members of the Cavendish family. The entry for one of the William's uncles, the earl of Newcastle, mentioned that he had been a royalist commander during the English Civil War, and later a member of the privy council of Charles II.
This led to the discovery that in the original time line, in 1649, King Charles' head was chopped off. Hobbes' friend, the king's physician, William Harvey, had visited Grantville in early 1632, and Hobbes suspected that this bit of history was what had prompted Harvey's hasty return to London.
The encyclopedias also revealed that the Cavendishes were forced into exile during the era of parliamentary rule. So they, too, would want to know who became a roundhead, and who, a cavalier.
Surprisingly, during the Restoration, the unwed William's yet-to-be-born son had become a leader of the opposition to the pro-Catholic policies of Charles II and James II. Indeed, a leader of the Glorious Revolution that unseated the last Stuart king. Leading naturally to the question, did King Charles know that, and would it create a political problem for the Cavendish family?
All right, then, let's see what the Encyclopedia Britannica has to say about me.
When he finished reading, he sighed. He was happy enough with the conclusion: "he has gradually been accorded recognition as one of the greatest English political thinkers." Hobbes was less happy to discover that, "unfortunately, Hobbes antagonized both parties in the current constitutional struggle."
The Encyclopedia Americana wasn't any more comforting: "he was suspected of atheism, and his attack upon ecclesiastical authority enraged both Anglicans and French Catholics. . . . As late as 1683 Hobbes' books were publicly burned at Oxford."
Perhaps it was time to do some job hunting in Magdeburg?
Marcantonio's Pizza Parlor, Grantville
July 1633
John made the introductions as they walked over to the pizza parlor. "Here in Grantville, we tend to go by first names. I hope you don't mind. William, meet Gabrielle, Heather, Millicent, Vicky, Judy, and Heather's brother Derrick, and sister Kelsey. They're all nice, except for my sister Gabrielle of course." She stuck out her tongue at him.