Infinite Intruder by Alan Edward Nourse
Roger Strang first suspects someone is trying to kill his twelve-year-old son David when a monowheel "accident" leaves the boy insisting he never left the safe lane; his parents dismiss it as a child's fib. The suspicion becomes certainty when, leaving the Barrier Base labs at dusk, Roger watches two men attack David by the elevator, seemingly firing point-blank into him — yet David is unhurt, though his blouse bears powder-scorched bullet holes with no wounds beneath. Security chief John Morrel dismisses the story, claims no unregistered gun exists on Base, and hints Roger himself is suspect. Roger confides in his old friend Martin Drengo, a Maintenance engineer who survived the New York bombing of 2078 with him. That night two gunmen empty pistols into David's bed. Chasing the fleeing car, Roger's headlights reveal the "killers" are Morrel and Drengo. Patrol officers detain him instead, delivering him to Federal Security Chief Whitman, who reveals that Roger Strang's entire biography — birthplace, father, schooling — has no supporting records; officers who checked his home found David asleep, unharmed, claiming nothing happened. Grueling interrogation under drugs and lie-detection leaves Roger doubting his own memory, until a name surfaces unbidden: New Albany. Ann appears in his cell beside a glowing time-portal, telling him she is his true wife from another time-area and that his memories were implanted. Stepping through, they emerge in a devastated America of March 2165, in New Albany, under aerial bombardment — not by Eurasia, but by Mars. Drengo, Morrel, and a man named Markson explain: the Earth's Dictator, an irresistibly charismatic 32-year-old named Farrel Strang, seized power four years earlier and drove Earth into an unwinnable war against a militarily and economically superior Mars. Farrel Strang is Roger and Ann's son — and the boy David whom the "assassins" tried to kill was actually Roger's own father, Farrel's grandfather. The team of time travelers (Roger, Ann, Drengo, Morrel) had gone back to the 2078 New York bombing, given false implanted memories, to infiltrate that era and kill David before Farrel could ever be born, hoping to erase the Dictator by erasing his lineage. Markson reports their mission failed: Farrel Strang has just launched the full attack on Mars. The team explains their scientific theory: time travelers create only a "distortion" in the timestream that snaps back for high-order changes (like the boy's murder), though low-order variables can be shifted; their years of sabotage attempts inside the Barrier Base accomplished nothing lasting. Roger then proposes a new plan: since the future is not fixed like the past, if his consciousness is sent forward through the time-portal into the Void, he might arrive in the Dictator's Palace and act before normal time catches up with him. Drengo reverse-wires the machine. Roger's consciousness passes through a formless Void and rematerializes in the Palace, confronting Farrel Strang, who resembles him almost exactly. He shoots his son with a heat-pistol, killing him, then disguises the body and impersonates Farrel at the desk, fooling a deputy. Using the Dictator's authority, Roger transmits an order recalling all attack squadrons from Mars and canceling the invasion, then burns the war plans and files. He summons Drengo to the Palace, unarmed, "by order of your Dictator," ending the account.
By Alan Edward Nourse · First published 1953 · Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure, Thriller · 11,830 words
First lines
It was the second time they tried that Roger Strang realized someone was trying to kill his son.
What this Textopian page supports
Infinite Intruder is listed on Textopian as a novel by Alan Edward Nourse, dated 1953 CE.
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- Work type: Novel
- Author: Alan Edward Nourse
- Date: 1953 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Science Fiction, Adventure, Thriller
- Length: 11,830 words
- Structure: 1 section, 187 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Fairly Easy (7th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Infinite Intruder by Alan Edward Nourse
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Science Fiction — Alan Edward Nourse is well known as a science fiction author, and 'Infinite Intruder' has significant elements of advanced technology and futuristic settings consistent with sci-fi.
- Adventure — The plot of 'Infinite Intruder' centers around an intense quest filled with risks and danger, which closely aligns with adventure genre.
- Thriller — There are numerous suspenseful moments and elements of mystery in the book, making it partially fit into the thriller genre.
Tags
ann · back · base · boy · car · city · could · david · dictator · door · drengo · eyes