The Other End of Time

Frederik Pohl

12/28/2003

Dan Dannerman and Patricia Adcock are cousins by marriage. Their uncle had died and left them both his fortune. Dr. Adcock has used her share to keep her uncle's Starlab going. Dannerman had been buried in Europe, and by the time he knew he had inherited, it had been eaten up by inflation. Now Dannerman is seeking a job with Starlab.

Not that he needs the job. Instead, it is his job to get a job with Dr. Adcock. He works for the government in a spy position. His mission is to discover what Dr. Adcock knows. Pictures of alien beings have been transmitted to Earth. Starlab has not been functioning for a number of years. Dr. Adcock is trying to put together a small group of people who can take a space flight back to the lab, put it working order again, and see if they can discover what is going on with the aliens. Neither she nor Dannerman can conceive of what will happen when they start that adventure. They discover thamselves in the middle of a universal war. But they are just the pawns, the specimans who represent humankind from Earth.

The Other End of Time is filled with some fantastic ideas. Pohl has populated his novel with characters that ought to be beyond belief. He makes them believable, although I'm not able to put together a picture of them in my head. One of the alien species apparently has the head like a kitten on a body that is a cross between and turkey and a peacock. I just can't envision it... The end of the book is a good, open conclusion. This story is brought together, and yet is left with enough unresolved for the sequels that follow.

Although the title may suggest it, The Other End of Time is not about time travel. Instead it is about Earth's possible future. One of the underlying themes is the rampant inflation on Earth. Workers are paid daily. Rent is paid daily. National wars are almost obsolete. Terrorism for money is commonplace, the replacement for the national wars. Governments are too busy with keeping inhabitants safe from terroists to go to war. The future is grim looking. But humans still have hope and dreams, so we know all is not lost yet.

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