Martian Time-Slip
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Martian Time-Slip is a 1964 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick. The novel utilizes the common science fiction concept of a human colony on Mars. However, it also includes the themes of mental illness, the physics of time and the dangers of centralized authority.
The character of Manfred Steiner in this novel is very similar to Tim in Philip K. Dick's 1954 short story A World of Talent, first published in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
[edit] Backstory
The novel takes place several years after the first human colonies were established on Mars. Many colonies identify with certain nations - those of Israel and the United States are the largest - but are ultimately under the control of the United Nations. The U.N. seeks to establish a permanent, self-sufficient human presence on Mars because of concern that nuclear war will end human life on Earth.
Because water is rare on Mars most homes are built around canals and the use of water is tightly controlled. Arnie Kott, the head of the Water Worker’s Union, is perhaps Mars’ most politically powerful individual.
Mars’ native population is a humanoid, dark-skinned race called “Bleekmen.” Because they live as simple hunters and gatherers and maintain odd and ancient religious beliefs, human colonizers see the Bleekmen as primitive.
[edit] Storyline
Jack Bohlen is a repairman who emigrated to Mars to flee from his bouts of schizophrenia. He lives with a wife and a young son. His father Leo visits Mars to stake a claim to the seemingly worthless Franklin D. Roosevelt mountain range after receiving an insider tip that the United Nations plans to build a huge apartment complex there.
Bohlen has a chance encounter with Arnie Kott, the hard-nosed leader of the Water Worker’s Union, when both Bohlen’s and Kott’s helicopters are called to assist a group of Bleekmen who are suffering from thirst in the desert. Bohlen rebukes Kott for his hesitance to help the Bleekmen, an act that angers Kott.
Kott hears of the theories of Dr. Milton Glaub, a psychotherapist at Camp B-G, an institution for those afflicted with pervasive developmental disorders. Glaub believes that mental illnesses may be altered states of time perception. Kott becomes interested in Manfred Steiner, an autistic boy at Camp B-G in the hopes that the boy can predict the future - a skill Kott would find useful to his business ventures.
Kott buys Bohlen’s contract from his current employers and hires him to build a video device that can help Manfred perceive time at a regular pace (Kott is also ultimately intent on getting revenge on Bohlen). Bohlen takes a liking to Manfred but the assignment stresses him because he fears that contact with the mentally ill may cause him to lapse. Bohlen also begins an affair with Kott’s mistress.
Eventually Kott’s Bleekman servant suggests a time travel portal that Manfred may be able to open. Kott centers his interest in altering the past on two goals: Revenge on Jack Bohlen and claiming the FDR mountains before Leo Bohlen does.
[edit] Themes
[edit] Mental Illness
Like many Dick novels, Martian Time-Slip features characters that could be considered mentally ill or enlightened savants. Jack Bohlen is troubled by his schizophrenia but he also believes that it helped him predict the arrival of robotic teachers. Manfred is more severely affected. He cannot escape visions of his future self sick and kept miserably alive in a rundown hospital.
The idea that mental illness is a form of precognition is ridiculous by modern psychiatric standards, but it coincides with the underlying theme of most of Dick’s work: what one person perceives may be different from what another perceives, and the more outlandish perception may be correct.
[edit] Non-Linear Time
Martian Time-Slip advances the idea that the flow of time can change or even be reversed from place-to-place. Time on Mars is much more malleable than time on Earth or at least there are more portals and loop holes on Mars.
The Bleekmen have apparently known this for eons and a non-linear understanding of time is part of their basic belief system. This may explain why the Bleekmen, who are genetically similar to human beings, are much less technologically advanced. Time is not linear for them so the idea of progress may have little appeal.
[edit] The Dangers of Powerful Authority Figures
Authority figures are portrayed as malevolent or at least injudicious in Martian Time-Slip. The clearest example is Arnie Kott who goes to great efforts to accumulate power and takes sadistic pleasure in achieving those aims regardless of the harm he causes others.
Another example is the United Nations. The organization rules over the Martian colonies but its edicts are rarely beneficial. In order to make the colonies self-sufficient, the U.N. bans the importing of food but this merely causes a massive black market for fine foods. In order to improve the gene pool of the colonies, the U.N. considers massacring the children at Camp B-G but this is obviously an inhumane action. They also plan to build huge apartment complexes in the mountainous regions of Mars but Manfred’s visions reveal that these buildings will be left in ruin and become horrendous institutions for the sick.
An Earth-bound authority misgoverning an off-world colony is also the theme of another science fiction novel of the time, The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress by Dick’s close friend Robert A. Heinlein.
