Timeline (novel)
Timeline is a science fiction novel by American writer Michael Crichton, his twelfth under his own name and twenty-second overall, published in November 1999, making it his last novel of the 20th Century. It tells the story of a group of history students who travel to 14th-century France to rescue their professor. The book follows in Crichton's long history of combining science, technical details, and action in his books, this time addressing quantum and multiverse theory.
The novel spawned Timeline Computer Entertainment, a computer game developer that created the Timeline PC game published by Eidos Interactive in 2000. Additionally, an eponymous film based on the book was released in 2003.
Plot
In Corazon, Dan Baker and his wife are lost and driving through the Northern Arizona desert when they come across a man in his seventies with very little hair on his head but a sizeable beard. He looks like a priest. They pull over to help him, then take him to a hospital in Gallup, New Mexico. They learn that the man works at ITC and has unexplainable growth abnormalities in his blood vessels. The man dies twenty-four hours later.In the Dordogne portion of France, Archeology Professor Edward Johnston leads a group of relatively young archaeologists as they study the fourteenth-century towns of Castelgard and La Roque. Professor Johnston travels to New Mexico because he has reason to believe ITC is guilty of foul play. During his absence, his students discover several disturbing sights, including the lens to Professor Johnston’s glasses and an inexplicable message from him.
The students—Chris Hughes, Kate Erickson, and André Marek—search for Johnston by flying to ITC headquarters in New Mexico. They are joined by David Stern, a computer geek whom André trusts with his life.
While there, ITC CEO Robert Doniger informs them that Professor Johnston has traveled to 1357 using their undisclosed quantum technology. The students decide to venture into the past to rescue the professor. Stern chooses to stay behind, realizing that time travel is probably terrible for one’s biology.
Immediately when they arrive in 1357, they are attacked by knights. Their ITC guards are murdered and the machine is severely damaged: none of them are able to return to the present.
Kate and André find Professor Johnston; Lord Oliver of Castelgard is keeping him under arrest. Lord Oliver is convinced Professor Johnston knows the secret passageway to the famous castle of La Roque. La Roque is commanded by Arnaut de Cervole, Lord Oliver’s arch-nemesis, who plans to attack Lord Oliver’s domain.
Meanwhile, Chris tells a boy-in-disguise that he is a nobleman, which leads the boy to take Chris to Sir Guy de Malegant. Chris and André meet Sir Malegant, and to their surprise, are challenged to a joust: Chris’s proclamation of nobility and his flirtations with certain women have turned him into the enemy of several men. The two escape thanks to André’s intelligence and knowledge of the area; André was so enamored by medieval times that he taught himself jousting, fencing, and longbow archery.
Lord Oliver of Castelgard orders the students’ deaths. They flee and are pursued by Sir Malegant and his knight, Robert de Kere. To keep Lord Oliver’s men from pursuing them, the students look for the secret passage to La Roque. Chris and Kate focus on the secret passage while André gains entry into Castelgard by posing as Professor Johnston’s assistant. André learns that the professor is helping Lord Oliver build a weapon to defeat De Cervole’s incoming forces.
Simultaneously, Chris learns that another future-person is helping De Cervole’s forces. The man is Rob Deckard, an ITC worker who has undergone so many quantum leaps that his DNA is tampered and weakened, much like the seventy-year-old man the couple in Arizona found at the beginning of the novel; Rob Deckard does not plan to return to the future. Chris also overhears that the knight, Robert de Kere, plans to take the next trip to the future for himself.
De Cervole begins the siege of Castelgard, which the graduate students know from their textbook, he wins. Around the start of the battle, the students learn that they have thirty-six hours left to travel back into the present time.
During the battle, Kate runs away from Sir de Malegant and inadvertently kills him. André and Chris free Professor Johnston from a dungeon. They see De Cervole battle with Lord Oliver; De Cervole wins and murders Lord Oliver.
The knight De Kere attacks Chris, as he still wants the machine to take him to the future. But Chris defeats him by setting him on fire with gunpowder supplied by Professor Johnston.
The team waits for Stern, who remains in the present, to fix the machine’s launching pad so they can return. André chooses to stay in the fourteenth century. The rest of the team returns to 1999.
Back in the present and in control of the time machine, the team condemns ITC CEO Doniger to travel back to 1348, which was the start of the Black Plague. Learning the extent of Doniger’s inhumanity during their travels, they feel this punishment is just.
The novel concludes with an epilogue. Chris and Kate are now married and expecting their first child. While digging through a site one day, they come across the grave of André and Lady Claire. They are pleased to know the two led a happy life together.
Style
Point of view
The novel is written in the third person omniscient point of view. Crichton uses many voices to tell his story, including those of the main characters Marek, Kate, and Chris, as well as those of minor characters, such as the couple who finds a confused man wandering in the desert, and the cop who cannot accept the incredible story of an old man who simply wandered away from his own car in the desert.Characters
Andre Marek
Andre Marek is a researcher who works with Professor Johnston in Dordogne. Marek has always had a fascination with medieval times that is so intense that he has taught himself to joust, to fight with a sword, and to shoot a longbow. Therefore, when Marek gets the chance to go to that era, via ITC's invention, he jumps at it.Marek proves himself very brave in the medieval world. He fights multiple soldiers, not hesitating to take their lives; bravely stands up to medieval warlords and Archpriests; and is very convincing in the role of a knight. No one - not even knights who oppose him - have a doubt about his being one, fully entitled to be called "Sir Andre". Ultimately, Marek realizes that he was meant to live in this period. For this reason, he chooses to remain behind. When Professor Johnston, Kate, and Chris return to their own world, they find Marek's grave and discover that he lived a happy life in that alternate universe.
Kate Erikson
Kate Erickson began her college career as an architecture student but found it boring and switched her major to history. Kate now works the Dordogne site from the perspective of architecture, examining the ruins to see how they were built and to make recommendations for restoration.Kate is part of Marek's team that travels to the 14th century to save Professor Johnston. Kate repeatedly demonstrates her bravery and uses her climbing skills to outwit the soldiers of the period. Kate is also something of a romantic and falls in love with Chris during the adventure.
Chris Hughes
Chris Hughes is a student of Professor Johnston's. Chris’ specialty at the archeological site at Dordogne is the mill; he is trying to determine whether or not the mill was fortified, a feature that was fairly new at the time. When Johnston disappears and Marek asks Chris to be part of the team that rescues him, Chris jumps at the chance.Chris is something of a weakling who often finds himself getting in difficult situations, usually over women. When he goes to the past, he finds himself lying to a pretty girl to impress her, and his lie causes him to end up having to joust with her potential husband. As time passes, however, Chris proves himself to be much braver than he appears. In fact, he single-handedly kills de Kere, the one man crazy enough to kill Chris' entire team.
Professor Edward Johnston
Professor Edward Johnston is a college professor who is in charge of the archeological site at Dordogne, in France. Johnston is an inspiration to and supportive of his students, and they admire him. When Johnston goes missing after traveling to New Mexico to confront ITC's CEO, his team rallies to find a way to save him.Johnston has traveled to the past through a separate universe. He has been found by the local people and for this reason has created a new persona for himself, as a Magister who has come to help the local monastery's abbot look for important information in their archives. In this capacity, Johnston quickly becomes something of a local legend. This causes Sir Oliver to request his help in defeating Arnaut. Johnston plays along until the moment comes when he can return home.