Sam Ferron, Time Scanner [Paperback]

An accidental invention of near-miraculous powers: Now the government can peer into the past to solve any crime. . . . And to invade any privacy.

THE PAINLUSTERS: A worldwide cult of torturers in the year 2036 SAM FERRON: Their helpless victim

. . . Two of the white-smocked Hawaiians dragged a foot-thick orange hose away from a wall while a third pulled out a crude metal tripod. Black handgrips had been attached to the hose just before it narrowed to a long, stainless-steel nozzle. The end of the hose was lifted onto the tripod, where it was fixed in place. Its nozzle now pointed directly at the fire-scarred wall.

Sam watched helplessly as three more bulky young Islanders pulled Sunny away from his chair, stripped him of his blanket, and dragged him to the crystal altar. When he had been attached by transparent straps, Mama Pele and Wailuanui stepped forward. Together they supervised the Islanders in attaching ten frantically wriggling birds to Sunny’s naked body.

Three of the Islanders pivoted the altar on an unseen mechanism so that now it stood upright against the fire-scarred wall. Sunny’s gag was pulled away. He looked around the room with calm, apparently indifferent eyes. “Goodbye, my darlings,” he shouted above the wind and shrieks of birds, “I love you and —”

A tentative spurt of molten lava splashed against the wall not far from the altar. Sam twisted helplessly in his chair, his heart pounding in his chest. If only —

Power surged through Sam’s body, slamming him back against the chair, then pulling him forward. He felt his consciousness expanding like an orange fireball and then —

Nothingness. . . . THE TIME SCANNER: An accidental invention of near-miraculous powers Now the government can peer into the past To solve any crime. . . . . . . And to invade any privacy What are the fearsome consequences of this all-powerful technology? One man’s on-going battle for justice: SAM FERRON, UNITED STATES SENATOR, IMPLACABLE FOE OF THE PAINLUSTERS, and — TIME SCANNER!

Hayford Peirce was born in Maine, in 1942, and attended Exeter, Stanford, and Harvard. He moved to Tahiti in 1964 and lived there until 1987. At various times he was the part owner of a button factory, a garden center, a 1-hour laundry, and a computer business. He began writing in 1974 with science-fiction sales to Analog, Galaxy, and Omni, then had a few mystery shorts in Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine. In 1987 he moved to San Francisco and became a full-time writer. There he published three science-fiction novels via Tor. In 1992 he resumed writing short fiction and has had a number of stories in Analog and Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Currently he lives in Tucson.