In 2187, Marile Historian-1 just wants her Ph.D. She plans to earn her degree by traveling back in time to study Milton Carver, an Afro-American and the greatest physicist of all time.
The History Department's professors worry she inadvertently changes the past. The department's head already knows she and Carver share a love that could instead change the future.
2187 a paradise? Thanks to the physics discoveries of Milton Carver in the early 21st century, energy costs nothing. Historians travel back in the past to study historical events.
No war, no hunger, no hardships.
Nobody suffers from relationship problems. The government assigns everybody a sex partner, and, via virtual reality, guarantees everybody four orgasms per session.
Marile likes her assigned sexual partner, and the guaranteed four orgasms she enjoys with him, but feels something missing from her life.
She wonders what happens in the past when men and women must find pleasure with each other as they wanted -- when they fall in love.
How could that happen?
Could she dare to fall in love with a man -- on her own. Just she and he?
Marile decides to write her Ph.D. thesis on how the physicist, Milton Carver, whose discoveries so changed the world, accomplished this feat despite suffering from poverty, racism, and academic prejudices against his theories.
Humanity survived the "Transition Period," a time of intense social change, political anarchy, terrorism, ecological disaster, destructive fanaticism, wars, and revolutions.
The Lawyers restored order, and imposed Risk Management on the entire Earth.
No freedom. No excitement. No love.
The Head of the History Department approves Marile's project, so Marile visits Carver in 1957, 1968, 1986, and 2002.
Marile does not expect to fall in love with Milton Carver. Or that he could fall in love with her. Or that she would further break 22nd century law by engaging in not only time travel interracial romance, but physical passion with Carver.
Even beginning an unauthorized and therefore illegal pregnancy within her womb.
Or that their romance could wind up not only helping Carver make his revolutionary discoveries, but also shake the foundations of the Lawyers who control her 2187 world.
In 2187, scientists, doctors, and others -- a small minority of people -- practice useful professions that require a real person.
Robots perform all the unskilled work.
The many millions of "social utility-challenged" persons lie in single pods in Warehouses, living through syntho story dreams.
Marile and Milton's love . . . their passion . . . their romance . . . reaches across the centuries. It defies both modern prejudices against interracial romance, a black man and white woman loving each other, and the 22nd century's ban on all love and romantic relationships. It triumphs despite Milton's intellectual inhibitions and Marile's fear of punishment.
Marile and Milton's love creates a secret ally to help Marile escape the 2187 Enforcers determined to send her to the Discorporation Center.
In this futuristic, science fiction time travel romance novel, the woman going back in time to find true love begins in our future, and thinks of our period as the past.
Genre: FICTION / Romance / Time TravelThey synchronized watches so Marile would know precisely when she would flashforward from 2002 back to the present. This run, when that happened, she better be awake.
Erika began the countdown. "One."
Marile's mind thought of Milton Carver. Remembered his long-buried passion. The devotion in his voice. How wonderful it felt to lie naked beside him in bed. The scent rising up from his chest hairs, and lower . . .
"Two."
No, forget about that. Professional. That's what she had to be this run. 100% professional. No making love. No acting like a silly woman from the past, going crazy over a man. Even such a sexy one.
"Three."
A loud whisper like a hurricane rushed through the empty vacuum of space, with a supernova light exploding behind Marile's eyelids.
Her face moving forward through something lighter than air yet fanning her skin like feathers. An electrical experiment.
She hung motionless, suspended between time and space for a slice of infinity, then dropped.
The heels and soles of her shoes tagged the concrete precisely.
She stood in the middle of the dark street, a pair of headlights rushing toward her.
The car's tires squealed and its brakes screamed.
She sprinted to the other side.
The car passed on, honking furiously.
She stood there, one hand holding on to an overhead branch of a small tree growing from the sidewalk. She didn't recall spotting such a design during previous runs. Was it a recent innovation in city planning?
Marile panted, taking in the sultry, soupy air. Hotter than she remembered from other trips. And smelling of various hydrocarbon pollutants.
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French
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Already translated.
Translated by Gift Fandio
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Italian
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Already translated.
Translated by Lucia Lusi
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Portuguese
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Already translated.
Translated by Osvaldo Cruz
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Author review: Translator asked a lot of questions about past and culture, which I appreciated because I wouldn't expect him to know that right off. |
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Spanish
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Already translated.
Translated by Carla H. Consolini
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