He Owned The World by Charles Eric Maine

8,000 years ago, he died. Now resurrected, he was the undisputed owner of the world. Charles Eric Maine is a favourite science fiction author, and the life and death of Robert Carson is a terrific thriller.

In 1966, Carson piloted the first manned rocket to orbit the Moon in Wanderer II, an eight-month voyage filled with unknown risks. When a meteorite strike sends him reeling off course, corrective calculations are futile; contact is lost. Hurtled into space, he opens the air valves to die in the vacuum of space.

He awakens in a laboratory, attached to machines and wires, kept alive by electronic stimulus. Death is a difficult disease to cure.

He is on Mars, colonized by Earth hundreds of years ago, along with other planets and moons. 8,000 years have elapsed, and death has been abolished. Antimortic pathology has renewed his body with synthetic organs and psychoneural systems. He is now immortal.

After his death, Earth created a fund to develop technology to rescue the Wanderer II, which in turn caused the conflict that began the first atomic war. Earth is now a military dictatorship at war with Mars, where the terrestrials live in vast underground cities, and the radiated mutants are relegated to the surface. Mars needs resources, and Carson is the one who can initiate talks with the terrestrials. Revered as the man who sacrificed himself for space travel, Earth's memorial to the rocket and the astronaut is called into question. Earth is not welcoming—this man could be a well-trained fake. Both planets run rigorous identity tests to prove he is not lying—and prove successfully he is Robert Carson. Carson technically owns the fund which forms 90% of productivity on Earth, and must decide whom to support. Trapped between two warring planets, he knows after a treaty is signed, he will be surplus to requirements.

Maine (psuedonym of David McIlwain) has built a whole world of the future, adding a twist to the time travel theme. I have only touched on the surface of this story— at times is a little too political for my taste—leading up to an unforgettable ending.

Maine is recommended, and many of his works are online as eBooks or free downloads.

1960 / Paperback

My other reviews for Charles Eric Maine:

The Isotope Man

Calculated Risk

Timeliner