Short Fiction · Chapters

Chapters explained

Chapter companions for Short Fiction by H. Beam Piper.

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Chapter 1
Time and Time Again
Allan Hartley, a 43-year-old man, awakens in his 13-year-old body in 1945, thirty years in his past. He struggles to reconcile his adult memories with his childhood environment, realizing he must carefully conceal his advanced knowledge and understanding from his father and others while seeking a theory to explain his temporal displacement.
Chapter 2
He Walked Around the Horses
A Prussian lieutenant recounts his journey escorting an Englishman named Bathurst, who holds bizarre beliefs about an alternate history where the American colonists won their independence, leading to a French Revolution, Napoleon's rise, and widespread European chaos. The lieutenant, initially skeptical, becomes disturbed by Bathurst's calm narration of horrors, and later discovers that Bathurst's documents describe a world entirely different from his own, including references to a President James Madison and a general named Wellington.
Chapter 3
Police Operation
Tortha Karf and Verkan Vall review a database of strange events on a Fourth Level timeline, including unexplained fires, disappearances, and 'Flying Saucer' sightings linked to the Ardrath expedition's antigravity disks. They discuss the Paratime Police's role in suppressing public awareness and maintaining the secret of paratime transposition. Meanwhile, on the same timeline, game protector Steve Parker and state police investigate a series of animal attacks on livestock, with wounds suggesting a large predator or possibly a human with a blade. The chapter also includes a technical explanation of paratime theory, levels, sectors, and belts.
Chapter 4
The Mercenaries
Duncan MacLeod, a research scientist working on the Philadelphia Project, navigates the intense security measures of the Tonto Basin Research Establishment. He and his wife Karen, along with Kato Sugihara, discover a security leak within their team, suspecting one of their top researchers of selling secrets to the Komintern. They set a trap using falsified data to identify the traitor, while MacLeod seeks help from Allan Hartley and General Hammond to clear their names.
Chapter 5
Last Enemy
Dallona and Dirzed present evidence of conscious discarnate survival, leading to political turmoil as Statisticalist and Volitionalist factions clash. Verkan Vall, Dalla, and allies barricade themselves in a dome under siege, while Tortha Karf discusses the Akor-Neb Sector. The chapter culminates in escalating violence and a city-wide riot.

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Time and Time Again

He Walked Around the Horses

Police Operation

The Mercenaries

Last Enemy