Time Crime

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

18151

Title

Time Crime

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

In a future where humanity spans multiple time lines, the Paratime Police confront a massive criminal syndicate trafficking slaves from a non-existent probability line to the Esaron Sector. When a shipment of Indian slaves appears on a local plantation, Captain Kiro Soran discovers their true origin, triggering a race against time to expose the 'Slave Trust' before political chaos and corporate cover-ups destroy the investigation.

Summary up to 500 words

Set within H. Beam Piper's expansive Paratime universe, 'Time Crime' chronicles a harrowing investigation by the Paratime Police into a transdimensional slave trade. The narrative begins on the Esaron Sector, where Captain Kiro Soran discovers a disturbing anomaly: a shipment of slaves arriving from a time line that does not exist in the current space-time continuum. Recognizing the victims hail from the Ganges Valley of the Kholghoor Sector and were transported via a Ghaldron-Hesthor paratemporal transposition field, Soran overrides the plantation manager to protect the victims and report the breach to headquarters. The investigation rapidly escalates into a city-wide crisis, revealing a sophisticated criminal organization known as the 'Slave Trust.' This syndicate operates through cellular structures, utilizing narco-hypnosis to silence witnesses and manipulating political figures on Home Time Line to cover their tracks. Assistant Verkan Vall and his wife, Hadron Dalla, join Chief Tortha Karf in unraveling the conspiracy. They discover that prominent politicians and business leaders are complicit, having evaded detection due to a corrupt Bureau of Psychological Hygiene that failed to identify their antisocial psychological aberrations. As the police raid the criminal base, a massive explosion destroys the facility and a transposed freighter, yet the syndicate's reach remains vast. The story shifts to high-stakes political sessions where the Council debates the legality of the arrests. Through detective work and narco-hypnosis, the team identifies key conspirators, including spies and a fortune-teller who unknowingly facilitated communications. The narrative culminates in the temporary dismantling of the crime ring, though Chief Karf warns that the organization is far from defeated. The novel concludes with the establishment of a duplicate police force to handle the ongoing threat, offering a glimpse into the complex social and political fabric of the Paratime universe where time travel enables unprecedented criminal enterprise.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Science Fiction