In "The Time Ships" by Stephen Baxter, Do Constructors Become Watchers?

Question

Obvious spoilers. Don't read this question unless you've read the book.

At the end of The Time Ships, our protagonist, is taken to the beginning of his current universe's time by the Universal Constructors.

When they break the T=0 barrier, they end up in a super-universe apparently created by the Watchers. Whom we have seen glimpses of throughout the story.

The Constructors aren't mentioned again.

One of Baxter's hallmarks is detailed explanation, but this little section before the end is a little light on his typical detail.

Perhaps this is meant to be an unimportant detail, secondary to the protagonist's goal of finally being reunited with Weena and attempting to, erm, fix the whole Morlock/Eloi situation.

Do the Constructors become the Watchers? If so, why do the Watchers resemble humans (in some bizarre twisted way), while the Constructors are basically rectangles of yocto-cilia.

Answer 1

It is hardly surprising Baxter is light on detail. He is trying to convey concepts far beyond anything we can fully imagine or understand. This is, of course, the business of a science-fiction (SF) writer. This is being done poetically. That is to say, through imagery, allusions and hints while leaving it up to the imagination of the reader.

A brief look at what was hopefully the right section of the novel, there is an indication that the Watchers and Constructors are different. At least, that seems reasonably clear. This does suggest they it is unlikely the Constructors eventually become the Watchers. Although that could be a hypothetical path of their future development.

The definitive indication is that the Constructors only go as far as the "barrier of time", while the Watchers of Optimal History (as they are called) go far beyond that into the Multiplicity. This seems to be a Victorian equivalent of what we would call the multiverse.

This answer can offer one person's reading of The Time Ships, which is my own, that I believe that it was baxter's intention that the Constructors and the Watchers are not only different, but they are following different histories and are conducting different projects. Each represents alternative ways of dealing with the universe of The Time Ships. In which case, it is doubtful the Constructors do become the Watchers.