Why the two of us? Why should just the two of us be different? Because we were just the two who managed to penetrate into the territory of the people of the future. John always thought of this penetration as accidental. He laughed about my getting through to Greece, about my encounter with Melea in the temple on the hill. But was it really an accident? Hardly I think, for it fits too smoothly into a pattern, a pattern that would have been completed if John had elected to stay here, a pattern in which ‘copies’ vanished and ‘originals’ remained.
After the bifurcation in Hawaii, I was in the company of John Sinclair for a mere ten days. If at any time during those ten days I had looked for it I strongly suspect I would have found John’s old birthmark. The birthmark was a tell-tale clue giving away the whole story. An opportunity did indeed fall our way, perhaps was even deliberately put in our way, the day of our trip to Popocatapetl, the day when we all got so very wet on the return journey. But for the sexual distraction of the two girls being there as we dried off, the mark would very probably have been noticed. I have no doubt now it was the real John Sinclair who was sent out from here—into oblivion. The irony and tragedy is that to the two of us it was the world of 1966 that was the real cul-de-sac.
About the Author
Fred Hoyle was born at Bingley, Yorkshire in 1915 and educated at Bingley Grammar School and Emmanuel College, Cambridge, becoming the first member of his family to attend university. During the Second World War, Hoyle was appointed to the Admiralty and worked on secret projects such as radar and code-breaking. After the war, as a Fellow of St. John’s College, Cambridge, Hoyle was a lecturer in mathematics from 1945 until 1958, when he was appointed to the prestigious post of Plumian Professor of Astronomy and Experimental Philosophy. He became the founding director of the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy at Cambridge in 1967 and was knighted in 1972. He also held a position as a visiting professor of astrophysics at the California Institute of Technology.
Internationally famous as a scientist, Hoyle is remembered today as the foremost proponent of the steady-state theory of the universe and for his pioneering work in the field of stellar nucleosynthesis. An extremely original thinker, Hoyle was not afraid to advance controversial ideas, many of which were later proved correct. In the 1950s, when his paper on interstellar molecules was rejected for publication, he rewrote his ideas as a novel, The Black Cloud (1957). This book was a popular success and has rarely been out of print in Great Britain; its success paved the way for a number of other science fiction works, often co-authored by Hoyle with his son Geoffrey.
Several of Hoyle’s works, including Ossian’s Ride (1959), A for Andromeda (1962), Fifth Planet (1963), and October the First Is Too Late (1966), have gone on to be recognized as classics of the genre. Hoyle was also well known for his nonfiction writings, which aimed at making science accessible to popular audiences and young readers, and for his BBC radio broadcasts and television work. He died in 2001.
Also Available by Fred Hoyle
The Black Cloud (1957)
Fifth Planet (1963)
Copyright
VALANCOURT BOOKS
October the First Is Too Late by Fred Hoyle
Originally published in Great Britain by Heinemann in 1966
First American edition published by Harper & Row in 1966
First Valancourt Books edition 2015
Copyright © 1966 by Fred Hoyle
Introduction © 2015 by John Howard
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Published by Valancourt Books, Richmond, Virginia
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Cover by Lorenzo Princi