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| "Sidewise in Time" | |
|---|---|
| Short story byMurray Leinster | |
 | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Astounding Stories |
| Publisher | Street & Smith |
| Media type | Print (Magazine,hardback &paperback) |
| Publication date | June 1934 |
"Sidewise in Time" is ascience fictionshort story by American writerMurray Leinster that was first published in the June 1934 issue ofAstounding Stories. "Sidewise in Time" served as the title story for Leinster's second story collection in 1950.
TheSidewise Award for Alternate History, established in 1995 to recognize the best alternate history stories and novels of the year, was named in honor of "Sidewise in Time".
Professor Minott is a mathematician at Robinson College inFredericksburg, Virginia who has determined that an apocalyptic cataclysm is fast approaching that could destroy the entire universe. The cataclysm manifests itself on June 5, 1935 (one year in the future of the story's original publication) when sections of the Earth's surface begin changing places with their counterparts in alternate timelines. ARoman legion from a timeline where theRoman Empire never fell appears on the outskirts ofSt. Louis, Missouri.Vikinglongships from a timeline where theVikings settled North America raid a seaport inMassachusetts. A traveling salesman fromLouisville, Kentucky, whose van bears a commercial logo includingUncle Sam with theStars and Stripes, finds himself in trouble with the law when he travels into an area wherethe South won the American Civil War. A ferry approachingSan Francisco finds the flag ofTsaristRussia flying from a grim fortress dominating the city.
When a forest ofsequoias appears north of Fredericksburg, Professor Minott leads an expedition of seven students from Robinson College to explore it. They reach thePotomac River, and find on its banks aChinese village surrounded by rice paddies. At this point, Minott reveals the true situation to the students: he knew in advance that the timeline exchanges were going to take place, and he intends to lead the students to a timeline where he can use his scientific knowledge to gain wealth and power. The party returns to Fredericksburg, which in their absence has been replaced by wilderness, and Minott informs the students that they cannot return to their original timeline.
That night, an airplane from their own timeline makes a crash landing near Minott's party. Before the pilot dies, they learn from him thatWashington, D.C. from their timeline was still in place. A student named Blake wants to make for Washington, but Minott refuses. The forest catches fire from the burning airplane, and the party flees to a Roman villa. They are captured by the villa's owner, except for Blake, who escapes. Later that night Blake secretly returns to the villa and frees the others from theslave pen, shooting the owner in the process. The next morning, the party finds itself near a section of their own timeline. Blake leads the other students there, but Minott refuses to come; he still intends to travel to a more primitive timeline and make himself its ruler. One of the women in the party joins him, while the rest of the students return to their timeline.
The students are able to contact the rest of the world and inform them of Minott's deductions about the event. Within two weeks, the timeline exchanges trail off, leaving bits and pieces of other timelines embedded in our own.
"Sidewise in Time" was among the first science fiction stories aboutparallel universes.[1] In 1903H. G. Wells wrote "A Modern Utopia" in which people from our timeline were shown traveling to another, but Wells used this mainly as a literary device to present his speculations of a perfect society. Leinster's story, conversely, introduced the concept to the pulp science fiction readership, bringing about the creation of one of the field's subgenres.L. Sprague de Camp's 1940 story "The Wheels of If" followed a single man as he was involuntarily transported through a series of alternate timelines.H. Beam Piper'sparatime series (1948–1965) postulated the existence of a civilization that could travel at will across the timelines, a theme echoed inLarry Niven's "All the Myriad Ways" (1968),Frederik Pohl'sThe Coming of the Quantum Cats (1986), andHarry Turtledove'sCrosstime Traffic series (2003–2008). Other stories dealing with travel to parallel timelines includeIsaac Asimov's "Living Space" (1956),Keith Laumer's Imperium series (1962–1990),Jack Vance's "Rumfuddle" (1973), andJack L. Chalker's G.O.D. Inc trilogy (1987–1989).Lawrence Watt-Evans' story "Storm Trooper" (1992) is set in a world whose inhabitants, like those of "Sidewise in Time", must cope with the sudden appearance of sections of other timelines.Gordon R. Dickson'sTime Storm (1977) depicts an Earth ravaged by a cosmic storm that randomly changes the historical periods of local regions, much like "Sidewise in Time". The anime seriesOrguss took "Sidewise in Time" as one of its inspirations, and showed the world caught in a trap of constantly changing territories of alternate-Earths.
The setting ofFred Hoyle'sOctober the First Is Too Late (1966) is similar to that of Leinster's story, except that the segments of Earth which are brought together and interact with each other are from different historical periods, rather than from different parallel histories.
In his comments on the story inBefore the Golden Age,Isaac Asimov writes that "Sidewise in Time" had a long-term effect on his thinking. "It always made me conscious of the 'ifs' in history, and this showed up not only in my science fiction, as in 'The Red Queen's Race', but in my serious books on history as well. I also used the alternate-history theme, in enormous complexity, in my novelThe End of Eternity."
Themes touched upon by Leinster would be taken up at greater length by others:Confederate victory in the American Civil War, a Roman Empire which never fell, enduring Viking colonization of America, Russia keeping its 19th-century colonies in Pacific America, Chinese colonists finding their way to America.
The idea of a scholar using a cataclysmic event to make himself the ruler of primitive people was taken up byS. M. Stirling in theNantucket andEmberverse series, where the main villains do this repeatedly.