Time's Eye (novel)

Time's Eye is a 2003 science fiction novel co-written by Arthur C. Clarke (author of 2001: A Space Odyssey) and Stephen Baxter. It is the first book in the A Time Odyssey series. The next book in the series is Sunstorm.

Plot

The story opens with two hominids, probably Homo erectus, known as 'Seeker', a mother, and her infant daughter 'Grasper'. As they walked on the tranquil Earth two million years ago, they were suddenly captured by some blood-red beings, who turn out to be nineteenth-century British redcoat soldiers.

In the year 2037, the still-turbulent North West Frontier province of Pakistan near Afghanistan is being patrolled by U.N. peace-keepers. A helicopter, known as Little Bird, crewed by an American pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Casey Othic, a British observer, Lieutenant Bisesa Dutt, and back-up pilot Chief Warrant Officer Abdikadir Omar, an blond, blue-eyed Afghan who claims descent from the Macedonians who conquered the area in ancient times, is badly damaged by an RPG-wielding villager. Forced to ditch, the crew are met by soldiers based at nearby Jamrud fortress, which houses a garrison of British troops from northern India, part of the British Empire. The soldiers believe the year is 1885.