I wanted to write science fiction which wouldn't read like science fiction, social commentary which might not strike one as such. In Timeless, the view of the distant future is neither utopian nor dystopian. A reasonable extrapolation from current reality, this future is neither dominated by one national policy, nor so fantastic we cannot recognize ourselves within it.
Timeless is about the development of individuals and societies, but it is also about chance over fate, choice over destiny, individuality over collectives, influences over linearity. It is a philosophical and political story celebrating how we affect each other, about how we orbit or revolve around each other. It is a story about reality.
- M.R.M. Parrott
Book I
United Nations scientists have discovered a strange distortion field approaching Earth, and they suspect time travel itself is to blame. UN Command develops two courses of action: Travel to the past and execute the supposed originator of their time machine, and engineer a shield, deployed directly to the field at the edge of the solar system. When the scientists have trouble constructing the shield, extra pressure is put on the execution plan.
Major Milona Devon, of the UN Reconnaissance Special Force team already trained in temporal missions, is ordered to visit the distant past and investigate Professor Peter Nexin. Because of interim decades of depressions and terrorism which destroyed most public records, Milona must determine that Peter Nexin is indeed the originator of their time machine, and if necessary, execute him. Milona's problem is that she begins to fall in love with Peter, whose simple life seems more authentic to her than her own. She risks failing her mission and the world, wondering where, or when, she belongs, also questioning the ethics involved, which seem at odds with the accomplishments of her time. How can she remove an innocent person, even to spare billions of others?
Once resigned to her duty and the completion of her mission, Milona returns to the present to find the field has been unaffected, but also that she never existed. No one knows about Milona or her operation, and further, the scientists have now perfected their solution, to be deployed right away. In resolving her dilemma, Milona must convince her commanders to trust her and allow her to return to the past to prevent a murder. By correcting the past and leaving the rest to her superiors, Milona begins a whole new future.
(preview chapter)
(the backstory): A novel of action and suspense, the story about Major Milona Devon and her mission to investigate the past was first a standalone novel, but as can happen in writing, a trilogy was created around it. The overall story, partly based on true events while teaching Philosophy, presents a democratic world view and complex relation of actions. Book I was started as early as 1998, with sporadic work in 2000-2002, but mostly written in the Summer of 2003, published that Fall.
Book II
By morning, the United Nations scientists have perfected their shield model, which is designed to counteract the distortion effects of the rapidly approaching field. Aside from convincing leaders their satellite-based shield will work, the scientists have to counteract skepticism about the field's true intensity and the intentions of their key scientist. New information, resulting from the failure of a separate deep space mission, shows a strength and movement of the distortion field exceeding predictions. The scientific mission is then brought into sharp focus, and preparations are made to launch, despite dangers illustrated by a disturbing terrorist attack in Hong Kong, unthinkable for many years.
Doctor Olen Nadimov, physicist and leader of the UN Intelligence Science team, had helped discover the field, and has helped construct the technical shield solution working from a laboratory in Berlin along with physicist Michelle Lambert. A lieutenant colonel with US Naval training, Olen is placed in command of the critical mission to outer space, but because he is a visitor from the distant past, the same past under investigation by the Special Force team, he is also surrounded by doubts. Major Milona Devon is assigned to discover what would happen if Nadimov were to be removed, while Olen also has an unexpected message from home, from the past: His Mother is very ill, and Olen has a choice to make.
To return home to the past is obvious for Olen, and for UN leaders charged with his protection. The mission must continue with or without his help, but the fate of the world seems to rest on his decisions and knowledge. Once home, Olen is tormented by feelings of guilt and sadness, troubled again by seeing the darkness of the global depressions. His family had thrived at the height of American power and economic prosperity, and now hopes to emerge from the depths of a "great reversal". Because of his family's needs, Olen must decide whether to return to the future, to the critical mission, or give up his personal aspirations and stay home to help run the family farm. The fates of those close to him in the future and the past hang in the balance.
(preview chapter)
(the backstory): A novel of rewarding deep emotions and big themes, the story about Doctor Olen Nadimov and the profound conflicts between two worlds developed partly based on true events during the years 2005-2008. Book II presents the reader with view of a post-American Empire, post-Global Warming future history which builds directly on the events of Book I, and leads into the upcoming Book III. The very real events of recent years showing weaknesses in the global economy, climate, and leadership only made that part of the story easier to tell. At the heart of the book is a very recognizable conflict between leaving or staying, between hope and despair, and yet there are many bright spots along the way.
Book III
Book III is in development - more to come later...
notes
about the covers: A digital triptych, the "prism covers" are photographs of defocused reflections in a series of tiny mirrors, and are colour-balanced for each of the books of the trilogy. They refer to general colours (red, green, blue)
and to lower, middle, and upper chakras (body, heart, mind), among other overall themes in each book.
On the surface, there is a love story involving an alluring agent, a story of action, spies and murder, and a government desperate to save the world from destruction. Underneath, duty is rooted in an ethical dilemma, whereby one must weigh the sacrifice of one for the many. Involved is a complex journey of discovery, and tensions between career, friends and family.
