Elsewhen

"Elsewhen" (1941) is a science fiction novella by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, concerning time travel and parallel universes. It was first published as "Elsewhere" in the September 1941 issue of Astounding Science Fiction, under the pen name Caleb Saunders,[1] and was reprinted in the 1953 book Assignment in Eternity, with some minor changes, and an additional character and that character's journey.

Story

The story concerns five (originally 4) diverse students who attend a philosophy seminar. The professor explains that he learned how to use his mind to go back in time and correct a bad mistake in his life. Using hypnosis he lets them travel to alternate worlds of their choice. All the students disappear, except for Howard Jenkins. The hypnotic suggestions had no effect on him, because he could not at all believe it was possible. He is distraught at the disappearances, but the professor assures him they all received hypnotic suggestion to come back in two hours.

After two hours, the students start coming back, and they tell their stories. In each case, the subjective time elapsed was much longer than two hours. Some of them spent a whole lifetime in the alternate world.

The first one back was Martha Ross. She comes back as an angel. She lived as a missionary in the parallel world, died for her cause, and went to heaven. After telling her story, she disappears. (This section was not part of the original story.)

Next arrives Helen Fisher. She has traveled multiple very improbable timelines. One of them was in prehistory, where she lived with an old Neanderthal. He was treating her fatherly, and she enjoyed the place, until she was assaulted by a young Neanderthal. Another timeline was in modern time New York City, but she entered the timeline backwards. For a short time there, she moved backwards in time, until she fainted, and got moved into a different timeline. Eventually she arrived to a place with an extra spatial dimension. There she realized she could see inside solid objects. She studied her own body, and performed appendectomy on herself with her nails.

After Helen finished her story, Robert Monroe arrived. He was changed into a gnome and seriously injured. He perceived his new timeline as his home. His name there was Igor and he had a sister. His world was at war with space invaders, and his sister was a military leader. The situation was dire and their side was losing. He refused to go to hospital for his injury, so Helen used her recently acquired knowledge of anatomy to treat him. Helen then chose to return with him, and she helped him carry books and tools. They become a couple, though the story doesn't show any emotional buildup.

After a long wait it became apparent that Estelle Martin wasn't coming back. Professor attempted to find her by listening to the same hypnotic suggestion tape she had listened and by thinking about her. Howard Jenkins watched him disappear, so that he would start believing in this possibility, and be eventually able to travel between timelines. Professor arrived to a Flash Gordon-like planet, and found Estelle to be a priestess with the name Star Light. She refused to go back, because she considered her new reality to be real, and the old one to be a dream. Professor went back and returned with Howard Jenkins. As they arrived, Jenkins had turned into a native. He was a soldier with a blaster, and he knew Estelle as Star Light.

Professor returned to original timeline, and was arrested with suspicion of kidnapping and possibly murdering his students. He knew they wouldn't believe him, so he disappeared into Robert Monroe's timeline. He stayed there for a while and discovered his theoretical knowledge was not helpful with the war efforts. The books and tools that Helen brought were helpful, but not enough. So he traveled to Estelle's and Jenkins' timeline and returned with Jenkins and his blaster. Jenkins explained the blaster's functionality and left his as a model.

Professor escorted Jenkins back to Estelle's timeline, and decided to settle there. He spent his time tutoring children and trying to develop a time theory that would explain the experiences of all five students.

Characters
  • Dr Arthur Frost — University professor; instructor for Speculative Metaphysics course.
  • Students taking Speculative Metaphysics course:
    • Howard Jenkins — Engineering student. He is taking the class solely because of his feelings for Estelle
    • Helen Fisher — Adventurous; interested in gender equality
    • Robert Monroe / Igor —
    • Estelle Martin / Star Light —
    • Martha Ross — Very religious student. (Missing in the original version)
  • People in the main timeline:
    • Izowski — Police sergeant guarding Dr Frost
    • Chief of police
  • Prehistory (Helen Fisher's travel):
    • Old Man — a Neanderthal man who found Helen and took care of her
  • The war world (Robert Monroe's travel):
    • Igor's sister, the leader in the war against aliens
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References
  1. nitrosyncretic.com - The Published RAH A Reader's List of Published Works by Robert A. Heinlein
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