The Paradox Men by Charles Harness
"The Paradox Men," originally published as "Flight into Yesterday," is a science fiction narrative exploring themes of decay and redemption within a dystopian society known as America Imperial. The story centers on a character named Alar, who suffers from amnesia and is entangled in a struggle against the tyrannical chancellor Bern Haze-Gaunt, under whose regime slavery and brutality flourish. The Society of Thieves operates clandestinely, using advanced technology, including invisible body armor, to assist in liberating slaves. Central to the plot is the mysterious figure of Kennicot Muir, who has created a revolutionary spaceship drive powered by a substance called Muirium, derived from the Sun.
As the narrative unfolds, Alar discovers his connection to Muir and grapples with developing superpowers while navigating a treacherous landscape of betrayal and violence. The story culminates in a race against time as Alar and Haze-Gaunt vie for the last spaceship that holds the potential for humanity's future amid impending destruction. Themes of identity, technological advancement, and the cyclical nature of violence are examined as Alar ultimately seeks to alter humanity's path by confronting his past and envisioning a more hopeful future. The book has undergone various iterations since its initial release, illustrating its enduring relevance in the sci-fi genre.
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Subject Terms
The Paradox Men
First published: 1955 (serial form, Flight into Yesterday, Startling Stories, May, 1949; expanded version as Flight into Yesterday, 1953; revised and expanded as The Paradox Men, 1984)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—time travel
Time of work: 2177
Locale: Various locations on Earth and the Moon, and in solar orbit
The Plot
Originally published as a magazine novel under the title Flight into Yesterday, the story later was slightly expanded and published in book format under that same title. A subsequent paperback version gave it the title The Paradox Men. The book went out of print in the United States for twenty-nine years, then appeared again in 1984, in substantially expanded and revised form.
The Paradox Men is the story of a decaying civilization—America Imperial—and the efforts of one man to ensure that the future will not be as brutal and decadent as the past. Slavery, torture, assassination, and other forms of brutality are rampant under the chancellorship of Bern Haze-Gaunt. The Society of Thieves—an organization of anonymous men with a type of invisible body armor that protects against high-velocity missiles but not swords—steals from the privileged class and uses the proceeds to buy freedom for slaves. It apparently is the legacy of Kennicot Muir. Muir has developed the Muir drive for spaceships, which are fueled by Muirium, recovered by Muir from the Sun. Muir has disappeared, presumably murdered by Haze-Gaunt, who also has forcibly married Muir’s wife, Keiris.
Five years earlier, a spaceship of unknown origin had crashed in the Ohio River. The government had recovered a strange creature, resembling a spectral tarsier. Haze-Gaunt has adopted the primatelike creature as a pet. It is continually terrified and continually pleads with Haze-Gaunt not to “go away.” A man with amnesia was recovered from the river by two Thieves, who hid him, named him Alar, and made him both a professor of astrophysics at their university and a Thief. Throughout the book, a mysterious genius—burned and scarred beyond recognition and known as the Meganet Mind (Microfilm Mind in the earlier versions of the story)—resides in the Imperial Palace and is consulted by Haze-Gaunt but secretly directs the Thieves and, unknown to Alar, guides his actions. An ingenious faster-than-light spaceship, with a drive derived from the alien wreck, is being developed and is expected to launch on July 21, 2177.
Alar appears to be a mutant with developing superpowers. Caught by Haze-Gaunt, he is tortured and escapes via a unique form of time travel, only to find that the Thieves have turned on him. He develops new superpowers again to escape from them and goes to the Moon to examine some mysterious star maps.
Keiris is tortured and left for dead. She is rescued by the Thieves, but both of her arms must be amputated. She goes to the Moon to help Alar, who has discovered that the spaceship to be launched in a few days is the same one that crashed five years earlier. It also appears that he was on that spaceship. Scientific theory says that when two people travel faster than light, one will evolve and the other will devolve. Alar heads for a solar station on the advice of the Meganet Mind, who also has told him that he will discover his identity there, at the moment of death.
On Earth, Haze-Gaunt discovers that the Meganet Mind really is Muir, that a war has begun and America Imperial will be completely destroyed in a few minutes, and that the spaceship is the only haven. As Haze-Gaunt and Muir race for the ship, the question arises as to which will become Alar and which will devolve to become the tarsier. The future of humanity will depend on that answer.
As the ship departs, Alar encounters tremendous forces while falling into the Sun. He realizes that he was Muir and uses the solar forces to time travel again, this time to reengineer the genetic makeup of prehistoric humans and remove the suspicion and brutality that have crippled humanity.