Time Gate
Reviewed date: 2025 Sep 11
Rating: 2
149 pages
Someone has scribbled on the cover of my copy of Time Gate. That's disappointing. Fortunately it hasn't obscured any of the artwork. Time Gate is a time travel story (I don't care much for time travel) and it's a mildly interesting read. Author John Jakes is a decent storyteller.
Secret government lab
The US government has a secret time travel lab. They use it conscientiously, only visiting and observing past events, never interfering. The biggest problems are firstly that Tom Linstrum chafes under the overbearing guidance of his older brother Dr. Calvin Linstrum. (Their late father invented the time machine, so both brothers are carrying on his work.) And secondly, that an investigative reporter named Sidney Six has discovered the existence of the time travel project. Vice President Ira Hand himself pays a visit to the lab to warn the staff to be on alert for a reporter trying to infiltrate the lab.
Blame the intern
Donald Koop is an intern working on the time travel project, foisted on them due to his uncle's connections. His uncle is a Senator. Koop is a radicalized right-wing ideologue who's convinced that President Archibald's proposed disarmament policy will lead to disaster. Furthermore, Donald is willing to do something about it. He grabs an unlicensed laser pistol, sneaks into the lab on his day off, and sets the time machine for March 12, 1987 to assassinate Archibald.
Pompeii, A.D. 79
Donald is not very smart and doesn't realize how the time machine works. He ends up in Pompeii a few days before Vesuvius is set to blow. Tom, Calvin, and Dr. Gordon White go back to Pompeii and spring Donald from a Roman jail. (It turns out Donald wasn't very smart in ancient Rome, either, and had gotten himself arrested.) They bring him back to the present.
The intern, again!
None of our heroes is particularly quick-thinking, so they let the intern get the drop on them again. Donald grabs a laser pistol, forces everyone into the vault and sets the timer to keep the door locked overnight.
Sidney Six
It's at this point that we learn Sidney Six is a floating mechanical device, "an artificial news gathering intelligence." It's an autonomous robot reporter drone that flies around and gathers news. He's infiltrated the lab packed into some supply crates. Donald puts Sidney Six into the vault along with the rest of the crew.
Sidney Six is an interesting idea, but he doesn't actually play into the plot.
The intern changes history
Donald correctly sets the time machine, travels back to March 2, 1987 and assassinates Archibald, then jumps forward to 3987.
3987
Everyone now remembers that President Archibald was indeed assassinated. Tom, Cal, and a few others also remember that he wasn't. They brief President Hand on the events, and he authorizes them to apprehend Donald and to (if possible) to back and restore the proper timeline. Cal, Tom, White, and Sidney Six travel to 3987 where they find a dying earth and the last few humans—a technologically advanced civilization, but one that has been slowly dying due to the effects of a nuclear war started in 2080. Without Archibald's disarmament plan, the Asiatics launched a planet-killer nuclear weapon which rendered much of the globe uninhabitable and most humans infertile. The race has survived, barely, until 3987 but their numbers keep dwindling; they are within a few generations of extinction. It's imperative that Archibald be allowed to live.
The group locates Donald in 3987, and Donald dies in the ensuing firefight.
1987 and 2080
Cal and Sidney Six travel back to 1987 and stop the assassination. Donald dies again. Archibald lives. But back in 3987 nothing has changed. The planet and the human race are still dying. The Asiatics still set off their doomsday machine in 2080. Cal has been injured, so Tom and a few others travel to 2080, sneak into the doomsday machine headquarters and sabotage it. The world is saved. Back in 3987 the earth and humanity are flourishing. Tom, Cal, and everyone head back to their own time. The end.
Subplots
There was a romantic subplot wherein Tom falls in love with Mari, a young woman from 3987. She accompanies him to 2080 to disable the doomsday machine, so her 3987 is unrecognizable when she returns. She goes with Tom to 1987 instead.
The other subplot is the conflict between Calvin and Tom. Calvin is overbearing and tyrannical in his dealing with everyone, especially Tom. By the end of the book Tom has gained confidence and broken free from Calvin. It's not that Calvin has changed, but rather Tom who has matured: he's grown up, independent, and no longer needs Calvin's approval or permission for his choices in life.