Timescape

Gregory Benford

1980

It's 1998 and the world is in a serious state!

Huge algae blooms are present in the world's oceans caused by massive agricultural pollution and they are killing off the fish. Even worse though, was the rain, spreading the damage deep inland.

In a desperate state the British government turned to the last working research team in the Cavendish Lab at Cambridge. There, John Renfrew is working at decoding a strange wave that seems to be a message from the future that seemed to indicate that it might be possible to survive the impending catastrophe.

But the government is not merely interested in hoping in surviving, but wishes to alter the past too.

Back in the 1960s its a bright time to be a researcher on the West Coast.

But if you're doing research, it is wise to work on a topic that has some credibility! When something seems to be interfering with his project the hoped-to-be-doctor Gordon Berstein comes to the startling conclusion that his project is receiving messages from the future. Regardless of the jeers of his colleagues, the scientist bravely followed through on his experiments and, involving others from different disciplines, he forces his colleagues to acknowledge the truth.

Are the messages from 1998 going to make a difference? And are the messages to 1998 from the future, or just from a future?

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This is part of the Science Fiction Masterworks series.

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