ROBERT SILVERBERG confronts the paradoxes of time travel in a brilliant new novel of the 25th century, when the only escape from suffocation in a totally controlled environment is to hop
backward through time.
Since time hopping rearranges the past on which the structure of current existence is based, it must be stopped — but not too quickly. For the history of the 1970's includes the arrival of hoppers who have not yet left the 2490's — and whose departure thus must not be stopped!
A complex, unpredictable plot...thought-provoking and thoroughly enjoyable.
FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION
An expansion of the short story Hopper
.
Earth in the late 25th Century is an unpleasant place for many of its inhabitants. The vast population is crowded into most of the available areea, and unemployment is rampant. A highly stratified society provides luxury and space for the few at the top, while the lower levels live crowded into tiny apartments. Into this situation comes a hope of escape – escape into the past, before the world was so crowded.
Silverberg's story follows a number of characters. The first is Joe Quellen, a midlevel bureaucrat at the Secretariat of Crime with a dangerous secret: a private residence in Africa, reached by a private teleportation (stat
) booth. He is charged to head the investigation into the crime of unauthorized time travel that seems to be gaining in popularity. Another is Norman Pomrath, Joe's brother-in-law, an unemployed low-level worker, who swears he would not abandon his wife and children if he is presented with a chance to become a hopper.
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