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Paratime Police
Police Operation
A novelet of the Paratime Police, by the author of the classic "Little Fuzzy"!
54 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1948
9 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
About the author
H. Beam Piper
296 books242 followersHenry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.
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Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews
May 20, 2018
This is an enjoyable novellet. That said, I couldn't help assuming it was a companion to another series. After finishing the story, I discovered it was just that. The Paratime Police are a group of law enforces for parallel timeline jumpers.
In Police Operation, a traveller takes their cosmic space-pet into a primitive timeline, like ours, and ends up dead, releasing their space-pet into said timeline's wilderness. Needless to say, our protagonist, Verkan Vall, sets out on a monster hunt!
Originally published in 1948, it contains a lot of the sci-fi themes you'd expect from that era. Verkan Vall is a bad-arse, lady-killer of a cop: a real man's man. There are also quite a few references to the primitive (called fourth-level) timeline and the industrial progression during war. It also had a lot of info-dump sessions. As I said, it felt like a companion story. A good chunk of this story involved a rocket ride, in which Verkan Vall explained exactly how the Paratime Police jump timelines. After that, he went through another big info dump session on morales etc. with his boss. It had the feel of all that theoretical stuff those earlier sci-fi books loved to throw around.
The hunt itself was kinda cool. The idea of the poisonous cockroaches, and the jacket, felt both silly yet interesting at the same time. I enjoyed it. The monster was a classic space-monster, which I envisioned as a skinny and tall version of angry Stitch (Lilo and Stitch) brought to life with old B&W Doctor Who special effects.
Police Operation is a little corny, but still enjoyable. I'm open to hooking into more Paratime Police adventures!
In Police Operation, a traveller takes their cosmic space-pet into a primitive timeline, like ours, and ends up dead, releasing their space-pet into said timeline's wilderness. Needless to say, our protagonist, Verkan Vall, sets out on a monster hunt!
Originally published in 1948, it contains a lot of the sci-fi themes you'd expect from that era. Verkan Vall is a bad-arse, lady-killer of a cop: a real man's man. There are also quite a few references to the primitive (called fourth-level) timeline and the industrial progression during war. It also had a lot of info-dump sessions. As I said, it felt like a companion story. A good chunk of this story involved a rocket ride, in which Verkan Vall explained exactly how the Paratime Police jump timelines. After that, he went through another big info dump session on morales etc. with his boss. It had the feel of all that theoretical stuff those earlier sci-fi books loved to throw around.
The hunt itself was kinda cool. The idea of the poisonous cockroaches, and the jacket, felt both silly yet interesting at the same time. I enjoyed it. The monster was a classic space-monster, which I envisioned as a skinny and tall version of angry Stitch (Lilo and Stitch) brought to life with old B&W Doctor Who special effects.
Police Operation is a little corny, but still enjoyable. I'm open to hooking into more Paratime Police adventures!
January 1, 2020
This is the second short story Piper published in his Paratime series. The first ("He Walked Around the Horses") appeared a few months earlier in 1948 and was just strange because of what it left out in background. This story had the background, so much background that it weighted down the story and stopped it from getting five stars. Never mind that the background is a fascinating and original concept. It's simply too much background for a short story. If these two stories were the first four chapters in a novel called Paratime, that novel would be earning five stars so far from me. I could really see this as a movie.
H. Beam Piper here is doing work here that is well ahead of his time. His narrative style of simply describing what the protagonist sees, but not letting you inside his head, and not explaining everything up front is a modern technique. The concept of Paratime, of having levels of worlds develop from a point of divergence (the Martian invasion because the invasion broke the laws of nature by allowing for more than one maximum probable outcome from a series of preceding events) is a startlingly original (at least for me) concept that really works.
Piper adds lots of touchs in terms of naming conventions and technology that aid the verisimilitude of his created world. The protagonist is also appealing in that he is so competent that he thinks of things his bosses don't, such as that he doesn't want to bring level one technology to our level four world, and thus makes his job harder for himself. I have found in my own life and experience that innovation comes from subordinates thinking for themselves and keeping the big picture in view, making the end result better than what was envisioned by the leaders of projects or businesses. This is a nice, modern touch by Piper.
I look forward to reading the next works in this series, though to be honest I still think of all this as one big novel.
H. Beam Piper here is doing work here that is well ahead of his time. His narrative style of simply describing what the protagonist sees, but not letting you inside his head, and not explaining everything up front is a modern technique. The concept of Paratime, of having levels of worlds develop from a point of divergence (the Martian invasion because the invasion broke the laws of nature by allowing for more than one maximum probable outcome from a series of preceding events) is a startlingly original (at least for me) concept that really works.
Piper adds lots of touchs in terms of naming conventions and technology that aid the verisimilitude of his created world. The protagonist is also appealing in that he is so competent that he thinks of things his bosses don't, such as that he doesn't want to bring level one technology to our level four world, and thus makes his job harder for himself. I have found in my own life and experience that innovation comes from subordinates thinking for themselves and keeping the big picture in view, making the end result better than what was envisioned by the leaders of projects or businesses. This is a nice, modern touch by Piper.
I look forward to reading the next works in this series, though to be honest I still think of all this as one big novel.
May 1, 2012
I totally love H. Beam Piper, I’m a die-hard, I also totally love the Paratime Police. Verkan Vall is one of his best characters. But this book, it just wasn’t Piper’s best. I mean, it laid down a lot of important groundwork for the Paratime Police, so it’s more informative than anything else. It just could have been so much more. I guess I’m just a little sad that it wasn’t a 700 page novel
January 28, 2014
Police Operation / H. Beam Piper / Librovox reading by Mark Nelson
NOTE: It is exceedingly important to get the Mark Nelson reading if you're going audio. The text e-book has additional short blurbs not in the Librovox reading. (I did both)
********SPOILER ALERT***********
A time travel story. Beyond that... maybe not so much spoiling going on.
The very first thing I noticed as I listened was how familiar these character names seemed to me. I even checked on Goodreads too see if I had read this before, to make sure. It occurred to me that the names Piper used in this story and the names used in Edgar Rice Burroughs' “A Princess of Mars” were VERY similar. Then I checked my draft review of Princess of Mars and.... Reader is Mark Nelson!!! Wow! Everyone say thanks to Mark if you download the audio books from Librovox.
I struggle with the dilemma of rating between much older era stories and more current stories. If someone likes stories, as I do, this is a 5* story, easy. But... If you are distressed when science fiction 'projections' are terribly off and it all sounds so ridiculous today... getting to 2* is generous. Hell one of these characters is a chain smoker and not a single judgmental whisper (from the other obsessive smokers)
This story starts out without a hint of science fiction... so pay attention when it changes. Then all the glory of the golden era of science fiction comes on full display. Another point... I may or may not have suggested that is all the science in this story is bunk... not so fast! There is a hint of sciences in advance of “Google Glasses”. Sometimes these crafty folks are idiots, in the next breath they are Nicodemus time telling wizards.
[Ok the real spoiler] Rouge time traveler takes off world domesticated predator to “today's Earth”. Rouge fellow gets the big auto death... his alien creepy pet time traveling with him excapts the automobile death ...then comes cattle mutilation. Weave in some UFOs... (and a good job of it.) Time traveler “cop” of janitor is set out to fix the various “time problems” this creates. [You didn't here it from me!!!]
NOTE: It is exceedingly important to get the Mark Nelson reading if you're going audio. The text e-book has additional short blurbs not in the Librovox reading. (I did both)
********SPOILER ALERT***********
A time travel story. Beyond that... maybe not so much spoiling going on.
The very first thing I noticed as I listened was how familiar these character names seemed to me. I even checked on Goodreads too see if I had read this before, to make sure. It occurred to me that the names Piper used in this story and the names used in Edgar Rice Burroughs' “A Princess of Mars” were VERY similar. Then I checked my draft review of Princess of Mars and.... Reader is Mark Nelson!!! Wow! Everyone say thanks to Mark if you download the audio books from Librovox.
I struggle with the dilemma of rating between much older era stories and more current stories. If someone likes stories, as I do, this is a 5* story, easy. But... If you are distressed when science fiction 'projections' are terribly off and it all sounds so ridiculous today... getting to 2* is generous. Hell one of these characters is a chain smoker and not a single judgmental whisper (from the other obsessive smokers)
This story starts out without a hint of science fiction... so pay attention when it changes. Then all the glory of the golden era of science fiction comes on full display. Another point... I may or may not have suggested that is all the science in this story is bunk... not so fast! There is a hint of sciences in advance of “Google Glasses”. Sometimes these crafty folks are idiots, in the next breath they are Nicodemus time telling wizards.
[Ok the real spoiler] Rouge time traveler takes off world domesticated predator to “today's Earth”. Rouge fellow gets the big auto death... his alien creepy pet time traveling with him excapts the automobile death ...then comes cattle mutilation. Weave in some UFOs... (and a good job of it.) Time traveler “cop” of janitor is set out to fix the various “time problems” this creates. [You didn't here it from me!!!]
July 28, 2019
Good short story that's a little much to digest. It's only the second work in H. Beam Piper's Paratime series which is about an advanced society that possesses the ability to time travel between parallel universes with alternate histories. There are an infinite number of timelines, but they're grouped into 5 levels based on the probabilities of success of an attempt by Martians to colonize Earth. I found it a little confusing and had to do some extracurricular reading on Wikipedia.
The gist of this particular plot is that an alien creature called a nighthound from Venus was transported to Earth by a since-deceased traveler. A paratime officer named Verkan Vall has to track and eliminate it before the extraterrestrial being is discovered by a society that isn't advanced enough yet to comprehend the alien's presence. I wish there wasn't as much unnatural exposition with characters explaining ideas at length to another person already in the know, but the concept was neat enough and a decent setup for some of the basics that will surely follow in the later stories.
The gist of this particular plot is that an alien creature called a nighthound from Venus was transported to Earth by a since-deceased traveler. A paratime officer named Verkan Vall has to track and eliminate it before the extraterrestrial being is discovered by a society that isn't advanced enough yet to comprehend the alien's presence. I wish there wasn't as much unnatural exposition with characters explaining ideas at length to another person already in the know, but the concept was neat enough and a decent setup for some of the basics that will surely follow in the later stories.
May 17, 2021
Entertaining listening 🔰
Due to eye damage Alexa reads to me, a will written fantasy Sci-Fi adventure thriller novella. The characters are interesting. The story line is fast moving with lots of misdirection leading to the conclusion. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy Sci-Fi. Enjoy reading 🔰2021 😀
Due to eye damage Alexa reads to me, a will written fantasy Sci-Fi adventure thriller novella. The characters are interesting. The story line is fast moving with lots of misdirection leading to the conclusion. I would recommend this novella to readers of fantasy Sci-Fi. Enjoy reading 🔰2021 😀
July 20, 2020
The story was fine, deserving of four stars. However the editing on the Kindle edition was terrible and made reading it difficult.
July 18, 2023
Fifth level fascist phooey.
May 9, 2025
Great Story by great author and great narration by a great narrator.
November 19, 2020
Really enjoyed this story. It's hard to tell the order in which to read these Paratime tales, but this one gives a more detailed background on the Paratime universe, so I'd read it sooner rather than later if you like the multiverse. It's a pretty basic story overall, but well written and doesn't drag out.
March 2, 2014
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.
About the AuthorHenry Beam Piper was an American science fiction author. He wrote many short stories and several novels. He is best known for his extensive Terro-Human Future History series of stories and a shorter series of "Paratime" alternate history tales.
April 7, 2015
This is a fun kind of tale - I like the explanations of the time travel and the parallel worlds - another short story example but this could be made into a good movie, or even if they take the concept and do it correctly, it would make for a decent TV show, though, not on FOX - then it would be a great show canceled in five episodes.
December 5, 2011
I forgive early SF for exposition through dialogue.
I find it harder to forgive the notion that human activity has zero effect on weather. (Even though the "butterfly effect" term wasn't coined till the 1970s.)
I find it harder to forgive the notion that human activity has zero effect on weather. (Even though the "butterfly effect" term wasn't coined till the 1970s.)
April 12, 2011
A really likeable main character and an interesting story.
July 19, 2011
Great main character and a cool, briskly paced, plot. You can see the works that H. Beam Piper inspired with his stories here.
November 7, 2013
2013. B+. 1948. Short time travel novelette. Free e-book.
November 24, 2016
I normally don't like occult stories, but this one was all right?
February 10, 2025
Great story that is worth another read.
June 14, 2012
uffff. muy cortito y casi no lo acabo. Quizás el hecho de que estuviera en inglés tuvo algo que ver
August 15, 2016
I think I read this when I was a teen.
Still a great ride.
Still a great ride.
Displaying 1 - 20 of 20 reviews