He was meant to be a spectator of history, safely sealed behind unbreakable barriers while the ages rose and fell beneath him. But when an unreasoning terror drives him to step out of the machine and into the living past, safety vanishes and every heartbeat becomes a test of his will to endure.
Alone in an era where his voice cannot be understood, he wanders through ordinary lives balanced on the edge of tragedy. A frightened young couple, a desperate artist on the brink of silence, and a world untouched by the comforts of his own time force him to confront the very fear he tried to escape. Without weapons, without authority, and without words, he becomes a quiet catalyst for courage in others, discovering that the smallest human moments can echo louder than the grand sweep of history.
This is a story of inner battles fought in unfamiliar places, where compassion travels farther than language and a single act of presence can restore faith to the lost. As isolation tightens around him and the future seems impossibly distant, the question is no longer whether he can survive the past, but whether he can accept the part of himself he has always feared.
Frank Belknap Long was a master of blending cosmic scale with intimate emotion, crafting tales where extraordinary ideas meet deeply human struggles. In this haunting and uplifting journey, he turns time travel into a mirror for the soul, reminding us that bravery is not the absence of fear but the refusal to face it alone.
