Time Crime

Time Crime Summary

Time Crime by H. Beam Piper is a science fiction novella first published in 1955. The story follows Verkan Vall, an officer of the Paratime Police, as he investigates a trans-temporal slave-trading operation that threatens the secrecy and stability of paratime civilization.

eBook download options

Format	Price	Download
azw3	Free
Mobi	Free
Epub	Free
pdf	Free

Time Crime Excerpt

Short Summary: Verkan Vall of the Paratime Police uncovers a trans-temporal slave trade, leading to a complex investigation across multiple timelines to protect the integrity of paratime civilization.

"Kiro Soran, the guard captain, stood in the shadow of the veranda roof, his white cloak thrown back to display the scarlet lining. He rubbed his palm reflectively on the checkered butt of his revolver and watched the four men at the table. 'And ten tens are a hundred,' one of the clerks in blue jackets said, adding another stack to the pile of gold coins. 'Nineteen hundreds,' one of the pair in dirty striped robes agreed, taking a stone from the box in front of him and throwing it away. Only one stone remained. 'One more hundred to pay.' One of the blue-jacketed plantation clerks made a tally mark; his companion counted out coins, ten and ten and ten. Dosu Golan, the plantation manager, tapped impatiently on his polished boot leg with a thin riding whip. 'I don't like this,' he said, in another and entirely different language. 'I know, chattel slavery's an established custom on this sector, and we have to conform to local usages, but it sickens me to have to haggle with these swine over the price of human beings. On the Zarkantha Sector, we used nothing but free wage-labor.' 'Migratory workers,' the guard captain said. 'Humanitarian considerations aside, I can think of a lot better ways of meeting the labor problem on a fruit plantation than by buying slaves you need for three months a year and have to feed and quarter and clothe and doctor the whole twelve.' 'Twenty hundreds of obus,' the clerk who had been counting the money said. 'That is the payment, is it not, Coru-hin-Irigod?' 'That is the payment,' the slave dealer replied. He was a man of middle age, with a sallow, pasty complexion; sparse, straggling beard; and dirty white robes. He and his companion scooped up the gold and poured it into a pair of saddlebags. The plantation manager watched them closely, his right hand close to the butt of his revolver. The guard captain went to the head of the steps leading down to the yard, where a dozen armed men, in white cloaks over red jackets and black kilts, stood at ease. At the foot of the steps, a half-dozen slave-dealers' attendants were waiting beside a long, four-wheeled wagon. Behind them were the slaves, linked neck to neck on a chain. They were a mixed lot, men and women of all ages, from children of ten to white-bearded old men; their skins were light brown, their hair ranged from black to dirty blond, and they wore shapeless garments of undyed homespun. Most of them showed signs of ill-treatment; all were dirty and undernourished."

This opening scene sets the stage for a complex investigation into a trans-temporal slave-trading operation, challenging the Paratime Police to maintain the secrecy and stability of their civilization.