Official Blurb
The Paratime Police had a real headache this time! Tracing one man in a population of millions is easy—compared to finding one gang hiding out on one of billions of probability lines!
This story from 1955 has rocket ships, time travel, slaves, post-hypnotic suggestions, drugged citizens, and a complete disregard for human rights. And those are the good guys. As a look back in time at "classic" science fiction, it's an interesting snapshot of a time when tobacco was common, sexism was unconscious, and female characters were a long way from Lara Croft.
My Review
I loved this story. Quite a short story but not a moment passes when you're left twiddeling your fingers. The author is H. Beam Piper and I've reveiwed a number of his works here previously and this one fits right in with those. It's a classic sci fi piece as the official blurb says, and it's a good one.
The story involves the Paratime Police who police the various time lines ensuring that history is not mixed up and that legimate cross time business' continue to operate.
The story starts as a couple of cops are due to go on holiday but a big case of trans-time slavery comes up and the holiday has to get cancelled. We follow the investigators as they follow up the clues and question the suspects. Typical cop-crime stuff but in a sci fi setting.
The reader is the author/narrator of "Quarter Share" which I reviewed here a while back.. his narration is outstanding and a joy to listen to. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him.
Reading 2/3
Production 2/3
Story 3/3
Total Score 7/9
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