''Quest Crosstime'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...

novel by American writer

Andre Norton Andre Alice Norton (born Alice Mary Norton, February 17, 1912 – March 17, 2005) was an American writer of science fiction and fantasy, who also wrote works of historical and contemporary fiction. She wrote primarily under the pen name ...

, first published in 1965 by The

Viking Press Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquir ...

.Schlobin, Roger C. and Irene R. Harrison, ''Andre Norton: A Primary and Secondary Bibliography'', Pg 7, NESFA Press (Framingham, Massachusetts) The novel features the same characters of '' The Crossroads of Time''.

Main characters

*Blake Walker: taken to the alternate Earth of Vroom at the end of ''The Crossroads of Time'', he has just completed his training and bears the rank of Apt Wardsman in the Crosstime Corps. Unlike the natives of Vroom, he has no teledynamic abilities, only very accurate forebodings of danger and a mind block that no

telepath Telepathy () is the purported vicarious transmission of information from one person's mind to another's without using any known human sensory channels or physical interaction. The term was first coined in 1882 by the classical scholar Frederic ...

can penetrate. *Com Varlt: Master Wardsman, who used the cover name Mark Kittson in ''The Crossroads of Time'', is now Blake's commanding officer. *Pague Lo Sige: Apt Wardsman, who used the cover name Stan Erskine in ''The Crossroads of Time'', is Blake's colleague. *Erc Rogan: a member of the Hundred, the ruling council of Vroom, which council oversees all crosstime travel. *Marfy and Marva Rogan: Erc Rogan's twin daughters. They are telepaths with a deep connection to each other. *Saur To'Kekrops: a member of the Hundred, is the stereotypical sociopath who wants to rule the world in order to compensate his feelings of inadequacy and uselessness. Frustrated by the subtle trade that the crosstime agents carry out, he wants to replace the Crosstime Corps with his own group, which will engage in blatant acts of piracy.

Plot summary

While visiting with her sister a version of Earth on which life never began, Marva Rogan has gone missing. Her sister Marfy is certain that she is still alive, but is equally certain that she is no longer on that timetrack. Blake Walker, on his first solo mission as an Apt Wardsman, picks up Marfy to take her back to Vroom, succeeding in spite of someone having sabotaged his crosstime shuttle. Based on clues found in Marva's personal possessions, Com Varlt decides to take a search team into a world in which the Nation of New Britain and the

Toltec Empire The Toltec Empire'', ''Toltec Kingdom or Altepetl Tollan was a political entity in modern Mexico. It existed through the classic and post-classic periods of Mesoamerican chronology, but gained most of its power in the post-classic. During this t ...

glare at each other across the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. Varlt, Walker, Marfy, Pague Lo Sige, and several other agents disguise themselves as a team of licensed traders and make their way to the trade town of Xomatl. Marfy locates Marva on the estate of a minor lord and she, Walker, and Lo Sige extract Marva from that estate, carrying her, wrapped in vines covered with fragrant flowers, off the estate during a ceremony in which guests are expected to ravish and plunder the estate's formal garden. The person driving the getaway van then takes the four of them to an isolated house, where they are rendered unconscious. When they wake up they discover that they have been taken to the lifeless Earth and abandoned to starve to death. Using components salvaged from the ruined communications system, Lo Sige builds a device that will amplify the telepathic signals that he and the Rogan twins transmit and, he hopes, will send them to alternate timetracks. The device succeeds in attracting a rescuer, who takes the four strandees to a world where other wardsmen have come with their shuttles to avoid being captured by forces loyal to Saur To'Kekrops, the would-be dictator of Vroom. With time running out, Walker goes to Vroom alone, allegedly to join To'Kekrops. He offers to lead a capture team to pick up Erc Rogan, To'Kekrops' most dangerous nemesis. Once back on the refuge world, Walker betrays To'Kekrops' men and leads his own team back to Vroom to confront To'Kekrops, the spider at the center of the web of treason. With a more powerful teledynamic amplifier, Lo Sige, Erc Rogan, his daughters, and another wardsman confront To'Kekrops and neutralize him. All that is left to do is to pick up the pieces and put the crosstime trading system back together again.

References

Sources

* Barron, Neil (2004). '' Anatomy of Wonder: A Critical Guide to Science Fiction'', 5th Edition. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited. Pg 322. . * Clute, John
"Norton, Andre"
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The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction, first published in 1979. It has won the Hugo, Locus and British SF Awards. Two print editions appeared in 1979 and 1993. A third, continu ...

''. Eds. John Clute, David Langford, Peter Nicholls and Graham Sleight. Gollancz, 2 Apr. 2015. Web. 5 June 2015. * Tuck, Donald H. (1974). ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction and Fantasy''. Chicago: Advent. pg. 331. . {{Andre Norton 1965 American novels 1965 science fiction novels American science fiction novels Novels by Andre Norton Viking Press books