Gandore and Filkith were beginning to watch the lives of Paul and John with interest.

It wasn’t the aspect of war that interested them. At their level of technology, species had to build civilization-wide defenses against time travel, so primitive humans attacking each other with sticks was boring to them. Especially since Gandore and Filkith were so genetically enhanced either one of them could go to earth and kill every human in any army in the world by themselves.

What was interesting to the aliens was the technology development. Right now Paul and John were both laying down the foundation for how science, research, and industry would be done for all time for the human race. Certainly, over the years things would be added to their methodology, but Archimedes’ ideas effected how humans practiced science in the original timeline all the way until Earth was destroyed. Paul and John were laying foundations that may one day lead to humans becoming an intelligent species.

What made the entire process even better was that they were getting paid to watch this drama unfold, because it was practical for their jobs. Gandore worked for the Trade Department of his species. If humanity happened to stumble on a unique way to travel faster than light, that had wonderful implications for their own research. The reality was that there were thousands of different ways to travel faster than light discovered across the universe by species far and wide, but Gandor’s people only knew a few of them. If the humans ever figured out a way to go faster than light, then it would in part be because of the foundations laid down by Paul and John.

Other species had unique ways of looking at the universe that, once shared, led to better research by their own species. Things as simple as viewing the world in a different light spectrum pushed forward their own research by several thousand years. The only problem was that you had to wait for the stupid animals to finally figure out faster than light travel.

As they watched Paul’s life Gandore was the first to speak, “I have to admit I approve of the Surgeon’s College. I don’t know about the wisdom of building it before they can effectively deal with infections, but it is a step in the right direction.”

“Even if they do not have ways of dealing with infections they are short-sighted beings that live in a violent world. There will be many times when surgery is required to save a life even if there is a major risk of infection. A five percent survival rate is better than a zero percent survival rate.”

“That’s true. We are talking about animals that tend to think mercury is good medicine because when they apply it, they can see a reaction.”

“Or cutting a person and letting the blood run out is good medicine because, they are doing something.”

“With germ theory, microscopes, and chemistry they humans will have a very different foundation for medicine than they did in the last timeline.”

“Yes. I look forward to seeing how far they can go without electricity, or other power sources. Especially since Paul is overcomplicating the first steps for both steam, and electricity, while skipping over more than a dozen basic principles.”

As they kept their eye on Paul, they missed the changes going on in Rome, the nomadic tribes to the west of Paulsland, and they cared little about Paul preparing his son to go to Egypt.

But Filkith was happy to see the waterwheel made by Badru, “Well look at that. They were able to adapt the simple technology of the water wheel to the environment they currently live in.”

“Yes, adding a waterwheel to a barge, it only took twenty years for the best minds of their nation to combine two basic concepts.”

“Now, now, remember we are dealing with animals. The important thing is that anywhere there is a river, even if the water level changes drastically over the seasons, they will be able to harness its power.”

“True, but I have to wonder if it will take another twenty years for them to figure out, that they can use the waterwheel for things other than cutting trees.”

The floating waterwheel was displayed during the planting festival where they also introduced some naval weapons, and Gandore said, “Look at that, they finally figured out they could use their pumps as offensive weapons.”

“Remember, just because something is obvious to every intelligent being in the universe does not mean it’s obvious to animals. Besides they made that weird fire arrow thing. It is at least somewhat complex.”

“But how will the fire arrow help them develop better technology?”

“They are animals, it will keep other animals from successfully attacking them, killing them, and stealing all their tech and using it for something as mundane as jewelry.”

Gandore said, “Fine, you’re right about that. Animals have to make dead end technology to protect themselves from other animals.”

They continued watching, and gave little thought to the school of engineering. It was little different than what the Romans already taught. The little difference came from the classroom setting instead of apprentice training.

As time passed and the aliens saw Paul’s son die, they had no compassion. For them animals only lived a few years. Human lives were short as a wisp in the air. Gandore and Filkith lived long enough to see little difference in six years and sixty years, the same way a human saw little difference in a bug that lived a day, or ten days.

What did bring out a comment was when Paul talked to his surgeons about diabetes, “This is interesting. Paul appears to be making far greater leaps in biochemistry than chemistry.”

“That will change once he is able to better source ingredients. He lived in a time where getting any ingredient he wanted was easy, but now he lives in a time where some of the best places on earth to find those ingredients have not been discovered yet, much less have the people to mine the ingredients.”

“Oh, I know that. What I mean is that in the original timeline chemistry preceded biochemistry, but in this timeline biochemistry appears to be preceding chemistry. It should produce some interesting effects.”

Gandore smiled and said, “Ah, I see what you’re saying. Only time will tell, since so few races take that route.”

The aliens continued watching, as weeks went by and then someone discovered penicillin, Filkith said, “See I told you. They are making bigger leaps in biochemistry than chemistry. And this one is huge, since it will dramatically reduce the number of people killed by bacterial infections, and make surgery far more practical.”

“True, the faster the population grows the more smart animals will be born with the right temperament to move their civilization forward. But what I am interested in seeing is how their manufacturing method will shape their culture. Paul comes from a time when they made medicine in ten thousand gallon vats, but industrial capacity is not possible with first century technology. It means that individuals will have to make limited quantities of the medicine which on one hand will make the medicine more precious but on the other means that thousands of people will have practice making it, and passing the knowledge on. Will this lead to small discoveries being made all across the nation, or a bunch of people following instructions exactly without any interest in innovation?”

The only thing Filkith could say to that was, “We shall see.”

They continued watching with interest. Weeks and months passed. They took no interest with a foreign general’s scouting mission, or the drugs being sold by Paul’s father-in-law, or the change in laws to give defendants an advocate. They felt those were not important in the development of an animal species. They totally missed Paul’s son heading to Egypt and spreading his knowledge there, but at this point it was moot. Knowledge was clearly spreading from Paulsland out to any part of the world touching the Indian Ocean.

When the planting festival came about both aliens said, “About time,” when they saw two men who added pendulums to their timing devices. No other words were needed.

When the Agriculture Association was announced Gandore said, “He is clever setting up an organization where individuals from across his nation send in soil samples. I hope he has enough sense to use the samples they send to find the resources he needs to develop his chemical industry.”

“Considering his history it would be surprising if he didn’t.”

“Ah, but he is playing king, instead of chemist, and the people he is putting in charge of chemistry already have a larger focus on biochemistry.”

“In the long run that may give them an interesting perspective that could help our own research, if these humans should become intelligent.”

And they watched as more weeks passed until the Himyarites attacked. Filkith said, “We might as well check out John’s life. I hope the animals with pointy sticks do not screw up the development of this world too much.”

Gandore nodded in agreement and made their monitor go back two years. It didn’t matter much to them because although they were going through things in subjective time, in real time only a few seconds had passed. Besides they were still getting paid, and if things turned out well they would get a bonus.

The aliens thought that John was an odd contrast to Paul. In part because as they watched it was clear John’s children were doing more to advance the world than he was. When Paul sent his son to Egypt, he got lost in the crowd. When John’s sons went to Cuba, the Mississippi, or anywhere else they stuck out like a sore thumb because they were vastly more technologically advanced than any group they interacted with.

Filkith said, “You really got unlucky sending this human back. Sure he domesticated bison, made iron tools and helped make watermill powered workshops, but he seems to have peaked. Look at him, he is helping some girl figure out milking bison, and domesticating ducks for eggs. It just seems like he could do more with his time.”

“But look at what his boys are doing. Turning Cuba’s rivers and streams into industrial powerhouses, bringing domesticated bison to do work, and forcing the natives to form a nation. He is even showing his dominance by putting down rebels. The other is going up the great river of North America, the Mississippi. He may be introducing things slower than his brother, but in the long run he will have a huge impact on half the continent. If John has peaked, at least his sons are taking his torch and running with it.”

They continued watching with great interest as John’s third son sailed his boat toward Mesoamerica. It stood out to the two aliens because it had actual cities, made with stones, but otherwise was undeveloped compared to the rest of the world.

They watched as John’s son was captured, abused, and killed. Gandore said, “From the records we gathered from before the Eulogy the Mesoamerican cultures practiced a lot of human sacrifice. It appears they did so to keep a stable population, but that meant instead of population pressures forcing them to develop new technology to feed their people, or spreading out to new places for new and better farmland, they grew complacent.”

“It just shows only animals kill their own young. What happened in the original timeline?”

“A group called the Spaniards showed up and badly beat them with less than a thousand men. The Spaniards used biowarfare, much more advanced weapons, and diplomacy for an easy win.”

Filkith contemplated for a minute then said, “I am sure this will be added to our curriculum somewhere as another example about why intelligent species do not kill their young, and population pressures are good things as long as it leads to innovation.”

“Don’t remind me of that class. It was the most boring year of my life. The only interesting thing about that class was seeing the variety of aliens, and how they can brutalize their own kind.”

Gandore and Filkith watched as John responded several weeks later when he found out, only to have an easier time stepping in and stomping the Mesoamericans than the Spaniards had, as the Totonac were less prepared for conquest than the Aztecs. They both took great interest in the men taken by John’s people.

Filkith smiled and said, “I look forward to finding out if taking those captives was a good idea or not. John clearly has no idea how to make concrete or work with stone like those Mesoamericans, but will the Mesoamerican’s culture of killing their young rub off on John’s people? This could be a boom for the Trade Alliance, or a poison.”

“The same could be said for the Mesoamerican nations. They built a nation of stone and concrete but advanced little else. They have a tremendous amount to learn from John, and his people, but are they willing? Although they are clearly great enemies because of what they have done, they may end up helping each other more than they hurt each other.”

“It’s just too bad that it will take weeks and weeks for things to progress. I am sure by the time those new captives help build the trade alliance Paul’s war will be hot.”

“No point in talking about it, let’s watch.”