Millennium by John Varley
"Millennium" is a speculative fiction narrative that explores themes of time travel, human survival, and existential dilemmas. The story unfolds through the alternating perspectives of Louise Baltimore from the ninety-ninth century and Bill Smith from the twentieth century. In a future where humanity is on the brink of extinction due to genetic diseases and environmental degradation, Baltimore is part of a group that kidnaps individuals from the past to repopulate humanity on another planet. The narrative intricately weaves the complexities of time travel, as Baltimore's interactions with Smith lead to paradoxes that complicate their intentions.
As an airplane-crash investigator, Smith becomes entangled in Baltimore's schemes, especially after he discovers a futuristic gun that she inadvertently leaves behind. Their encounters range from clandestine meetings to personal connections, culminating in significant consequences for both characters and the future of humanity. The story culminates in a dramatic twist revealing that a computer managing Baltimore's world functions as a god-like entity, suggesting a cyclical struggle for intelligent life to establish stability. "Millennium" raises thought-provoking questions about fate, the nature of existence, and the potential for human renewal amidst despair.
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Subject Terms
Millennium
First published: 1983
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—time travel
Time of work: The twentieth and ninety-ninth centuries
Locale: Various cities in the United States and the last city
The Plot
Millennium is written in the first person, alternating between the viewpoints of Louise Baltimore, of the ninety-ninth century, and Bill Smith, of the twentieth. The human race in the ninety-ninth century is dying out, crippled by genetic diseases and a poisoned environment. Baltimore is part of a group that kidnaps people from times past who were about to die in such a way that their bodies would either not be found or be difficult to identify. They plan to use healthy humans from past centuries to found a new human race on another planet. Most of the people taken from the twentieth century are from airplane crashes; earlier they were from shipwrecks. Smith is an airplane-crash investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board.
The ninety-ninth century kidnappers accidentally leave a futuristic gun on a plane as a result of confusion caused by a hijacker. Smith finds the gun, and Baltimore has to deal with the resulting paradox, which she calls a “twonky.” Smith discovers some other paradoxes before Baltimore gets to him. Then, rather than dulling his suspicions as she intends, Baltimore sharpens them, because she does not know how to fit perfectly into the twentieth century. On her first trip back to Smith’s time, made before Smith discovers the gun, Baltimore locates it but becomes rattled and flees before she can recover it. On her second trip, she stumbles across Smith’s immobile body; he had stunned himself trying to take the gun apart. Baltimore recovers the gun, but she needs to get Smith back on his proper time track before the propagating wave of change reaches her time. She succeeds, on her third trip, in distracting Smith temporarily but does it so clumsily that he becomes even more suspicious. On her fourth visit, she sleeps with him. She fails to lull his suspicions; all she has done is given him an obsession that ruins his life.
Baltimore jumps to a later point in the time stream and takes Smith to her time. Only a short time has passed in the ninety-ninth century since the beginning of the story, but her society has essentially disintegrated, and the change-wave has almost reached them. As a last-ditch attempt to save the race, the computer that manages the world sends Baltimore and the 200,000 people they kidnapped from history into the distant future. In the last few pages the viewpoint character changes twice, and the reader is told that the computer is actually God and that this is the third attempt to create a stable universe containing intelligent life. Evolution and the Garden of Eden led to the same result of autogenocide of the human race.