The Time-Lapsed Man

By Eric Brown

Emerging from flux after three months of mind-pushing a starship through the nada-continuum, Thorn realised he could not hear. He was on his second drink, an hour later, when a sound startled him. But it was the wrong sound... Classic short science fiction, and winner of the 1988 Interzone poll for best story of the year.

• Language: English
• Publisher: infinity plus
• Release date: Oct 15, 2011
• ISBN: 9781465712943

Eric Brown

Twice winner of the British Science Fiction Award, Eric Brown is the author of more than twenty SF novels and several short story collections. His debut crime novel, Murder by the Book, was published in 2013. Born in Haworth, West Yorkshire, he now lives in Scotland.

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The Time-Lapsed Man

Eric Brown

infinity plus singles #3

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© Eric Brown 1988, 2011

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The Time-Lapsed Man

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The Time-Lapsed Man

Thorn was not immediately aware of the silence.

As he lay in the tank and watched the crystal cover lift above him, he was still trying to regain some measure of the unification he had attained during the three months in flux. For that long — though it had seemed a timeless period to Thorn — he had mind-pushed his boat between the stars: for that long he had been one with the vastness of the nada-continuum.

As always when emerging from flux, Thorn sensed the elusive residuum of the union somewhere within him. As always, he tried to regain it and failed; it diminished like a haunting echo in his mind. Only in three months, on his next shift, would he be able