Martian Time-Slip by Philip K. Dick
"Martian Time-Slip" is a science fiction novel that explores themes of power, mental illness, and the complexities of time perception on Mars. The story centers around Jack Bohlen, an immigrant repairman working for the Yee Company, who becomes embroiled in a conflict over a seemingly worthless piece of land that is about to be developed by the United Nations. His involvement leads him into a dangerous power struggle with Arnie Kott, a ruthless local leader determined to gain wealth and influence at any cost.
Kott's manipulation extends to Dr. Glaub, a psychiatrist researching theories on autism and schizophrenia, which suggest that sufferers may perceive time differently than others. He believes that a young autistic boy, Manfred Steiner, possesses unique abilities that could allow Kott to manipulate time for his own gain. Kott's scheme involves kidnapping Manfred and attempting to exploit his powers in a quest to claim land before its value increases.
However, Kott's plans unravel due to his inability to navigate the complexities of time travel, as well as the intervention of Bohlen and the compassion of the indigenous Bleekmen. Ultimately, Kott's misdeeds lead to his downfall at the hands of those he has wronged, while Bohlen and Manfred find a pathway to a more hopeful future. The novel presents a nuanced exploration of how perceptions of time can shape human experience and interactions, set against the backdrop of Martian society.
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Subject Terms
Martian Time-Slip
First published: 1964 (serial form, “All We Marsmen,” Worlds of Tomorrow, 1963)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—extrasensory powers
Time of work: The near future
Locale: Mars
The Plot
Jack Bohlen is an immigrant to Mars living there with his family and working as a repairman for the Yee Company. He is assigned to do a small job for Arnie Kott, Supreme Goodmember of the Water Workers Local, Fourth Planet Branch. This assignment places Jack in the middle of a power struggle over a parcel of apparently worthless land that is to be developed by the United Nations.
Unlike Bohlen, Supreme Goodmember Kott is ruthlessly committed to the acquisition of power and material wealth at any cost. He uses people without hesitation or shame. He uses Dr. Glaub, a psychiatrist at the local camp for mentally disturbed children, to learn about a contemporary school of Swiss psychotherapists and their recently developed theory. They believe that autism and other forms of schizophrenia are caused by a discrepancy in the time sense of the sufferers. They believe that autistics and schizophrenics experience the world as running either much faster or much slower than do others. If their time is much faster, they would speed ahead into the future and get stuck there, isolated from the rest of humanity. From this vantage point, though imprisoned in their own heads, they might have special knowledge of the future. Establishing communication with such a person could be a profitable means of obtaining information.
Kott comes to believe that one particular autistic child, Manfred Steiner, not only is able to perceive time in this expanded fashion but also has the power to control it. Kott kidnaps the strange boy and takes him to Dirty Knobby, a Martian mountain that holds great religious significance for the indigenous population, called Bleekmen. Using an ancient visionary prescription from the Bleekmen and Manfred’s extrasensory powers, Kott attempts to travel back in time and stake his claim to the land in question before its value skyrockets.
Kott’s plan fails. He is incapable of navigating the insane time travel tunnel that he believes will lead to success in his claim-jumping scheme. The innate compassion of the Bleekmen and Bohlen prevail. It appears that Bohlen had a bout with schizophrenia back on Earth and feels sympathy for young Manfred. Similarly, Doreen Anderton, Kott’s mistress and feminine agent, had a schizophrenic brother and therefore sympathizes with schizophrenics. Her sympathy swings to Manfred’s side and against her boss.
Most instrumental in the downfall of the Supreme Goodmember, however, is the accumulated enmity of other people he has mistreated. In a dispute arising from a tangentially related matter, Kott is assassinated out of revenge by a business rival whom he had previously destroyed with hardly a second thought.
Bohlen returns to a life of domestic harmony, and Manfred Steiner is able to avoid the fate of institutionalized horror he had foreseen in his own future. He makes one last, memorable appearance during the denouement, as a time-traveling cyborg.
Bibliography
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