A telepath acquires a powerful alien consciousness--and must run to
escape corporate assassins and angry mobs--in this novel by the author
of Way Station.
Space travel has been abandoned in the twenty-second century. It is
deemed too dangerous, expensive, and inconvenient--and now the
all-powerful Fishhook company holds the monopoly on interstellar
exploration for commercial gain. Their secret is the use of "parries,"
human beings with the remarkable telepathic ability to expand their
minds throughout the universe. On what should have been a routine
assignment, however, loyal Fishhook employee Shepherd Blaine is
inadvertently implanted with a copy of an alien consciousness, becoming
something more than human. Now he's a company pariah, forced to flee the
safe confines of the Fishhook complex. But the world he escapes into is
not a safe sanctuary; Its people have been taught to hate and fear his
parapsychological gift--and there is nowhere on Earth, or elsewhere, for
Shepherd Blaine to hide.
A Hugo Award nominee, Time Is the Simplest Thing showcases the
enormous talents of one of the true greats of twentieth-century science
fiction. This richly imagined tale of prejudice, corporate greed,
oppression, and, ultimately, transcendence stands tall among Simak's
most enduring works.
