Legions in Time

"Legions in Time" is a science fiction novelette by Michael Swanwick. It won the Hugo Award for Best Novelette in 2004. The story was reprinted in Science Fiction: The Best of 2003 and in three other collections and anthologies.

Swanwick wrote that his story was inspired by A. E. Van Vogt's classic "Recruiting Station," "which just speeds along like racehorse afire, and thought I'd try to write something similar." ^[1]

Plot summary

A widow with the strange job of sitting in an empty office and guarding an empty closet, decides to take action and steps through—and falls into a cosmic, time-spanning adventure that ends with her becoming an entire organization spread throughout time with a goal of destroying the evil Empire of the Aftermen.

“Time criminals of the Dawn Era,” his voice thundered from a hidden speaker. “Listen and obey.” ^[2]

Sources, references, external links, quotations

• Legions in Time title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• "Legions in Time", Asimov's, April 2003

References