The “what might have been” question prompted me to say, “well that’s what science fiction does; start with a counterfactual and see where it goes.” And then (still talking out loud to my inner self) and so fantasy is starting with different premises but coming to the same old conclusion. And then I said, well, it can’t be that cut and dried. Especially now — since nearly all new science fiction is about oppression and identity politics: same old, same old. Anyway, nice find on a “counterfactual” that actually happened. You could use it as the basis for a SF novel.