Flight to Forever

by Poul Anderson

In 1973, physicist Martin Saunders test drives a time machine that Saunders, his girlfriend Eve and his colleague McPherson have constructed. Martin and his friend Sam Hull set the time machine to the year 2073. Arriving in the year 2073, Martin finds his house in ruins and the nearby village completely gone. The men attempt to return to 1973, only to find that the time machine does not have the energy required to move backwards in time further than 20 years. In desperation, they begin to go forward in time in the hope of finding technology that can help them travel back in time.

Arriving in the year 2500, the men visit a futuristic village. They are confronted by a militia that murders Sam and chases Martin back to the time machine. Martin travels to the year 3000, where he meets a tavern keeper named Belgotai, who confirms he must travel forward to a more advanced civilization to find the technology he needs. In exchange for this information, Martin agrees to take Belgotai with him in the time machine.

The men make several stops in various centuries trying to find a backwards time machine. The time machine, which is unable to materialize inside solid matter, gets stuck inside a massive stone pyramid for 20,000 years. The time machine finally materializes in the year 25,296, and the men find that the Earth has been annexed as part of a vast multi-galactic empire.

The two men arrive in the year 50,000 and are granted asylum at a nearby castle. Here they meet Empress Taurey, the last remaining monarch of the empire and Vargor a prince and head of the Empress's bodyguard. She explains that the empire has crumbled to the point where the Earth is the only planet remaining. Martin is convinced to help the Empress in her war to reconquer the galaxy. He is able to modify her largest warship to jump through time and surprise the enemy. After the battle, Martin spends a year helping to build a second galactic empire and getting closer to Taurey. He is later drugged by a jealous Vargor, and placed back in the time machine as it is sent forward through time.

For four million years, the time machine is covered by a vast ocean, and when it recedes, Martin appears in an impossible city with godlike beings. They modify his time machine, and send him forward in time. He makes several more stops before finally reaching the end of the universe.

Eventually, after several billion years, the universe begins to reform around the time machine. Martin sees the formation of the universe, the Earth and the Moon and realizes that the universe is cylindrical. He eventually is able to pilot forward in time 1973, where the time machine self-destructs after Martin exits.