Timeliner by Charles Eric Maine

"All the laboratory animals used to test the dimensional quadrature device had perished. But Dr. Hugh Macklin was determined to run a low-power test with himself as the subject, unaware that one of his associates—and his own wife—had arranged to kill him during the experiment, accidentally throwing the switch to full power."

Charles Eric Maine (the pseudonym of English author David McIlwain) has crafted a terrific time-slip thriller in his most popular novel.

Macklin had worked out every formula and knows the risks of climbing into the capsule, constructed in the underground atomic complex to test the psychological and physiological effects of quadrature on the human being. The ultimate goal is the exploration of time travel. He is confident the manipulation of uranium isotopes will be safe—unaware his wife Lydia and a coworker plan for him not to survive. The countdown ends, and in a split second, Macklin's consciousness breaks the shackles that held him fast to the temporal now; he becomes untethered in the dimension of time.

> He is Eddie Rayner, a uranium miner on the Ptolemaeus crater of the Moon. Macklin's consciousness has entered this body 75 years into the future, where workers live on a moonbase and satellite stations orbit the Earth. Adamantly proclaiming himself Macklin, he is sent to Earth a victim of trauma. His only connection is Rayner's girlfriend Valerie—who looks identical to Macklin's wife, Lydia. In the struggle to escape security forces, he falls to his death.

> He is Ernst Tehn, interrogated by Technocratic Security, suspected of being a Reversionist. His claim that dimensional transfer has occurred will not make them believe he is a scientist from 1959. Earth is now a radioactive cinder, and a small human colony has built an underground complex on Venus, with a government ensuring science will not be abused again. He finds his interrogator is a Reversionist, working with Tehn's wife Louana (again the image of Lydia) to stop the despotic Commander Karn. He convinces them he is Macklin, and proves it by turning a weapon upon himself, setting his consciousness free again. Death is his mode of travel.

> He is the despotic Commander Karn, fully aware that he has transferred to the enemy, and he can help strike a blow against the technocrat empire by convincing them to assassinate him, setting Macklin free once again.

> 10,000 years in the future, he is Lieutenant Kane447, posted to an outpost in System 43, scanning for the presence of the Saakori - giants from an alien planetary system whom no one has seen; indeed, they could be insentient. When the Saakori invade, he is rescued by a soldier, Thoa802 (another Lydia). With his amnesia, he is labeled a psychotemporal parasite, and great concern is given to the body he has invaded. He is charged with murder - along with other Timeliners - it is a known condition now.

> He is Psychocel D22, one of many hundreds of formless conscious entities of complex structure encased in a gelatin matrix, more than 30,000 years into the future. A council of disembodied voices understands Timeliners and has the power to return Macklin to his correct time. But all is not so simple. Nothing will be as it seems.

Dimensional quadrature is the hypothesis that each individual is an observer moving through a physical body extended into the dimension of time. There is an affinity—a person to whom you are attached—which you are drawn to in connecting timelines.

Charles Eric Maine has created a fast-moving and exciting novel, filled with the fantastic, but within the realm of believability—and always on a human level. His other novels follow time travel themes. He is a recommended author, with Calculated Risk being my favourite.

Fans of classic speculative fiction will not be disappointed.

1955 / Hardcover / 186 pages

My other reviews for Charles Eric Maine:

Calculated Risk

The Isotope Man