Elsewhen
Encyclopedia
Elsewhen is a novella by Robert A. Heinlein
, concerning time travel
and parallel universe
s. It is collected in the 1953 book Assignment in Eternity
but was first published in 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction.
In this story five diverse students attend a philosophy seminar. The professor explains that he learned how to use his mind to go back in time and correct a bad mistake in his life. By hypnosis
he lets them travel to alternate worlds
of their choice. The religious person goes to her version of heaven
. One couple eventually moves to a world at war with space invaders. They are helped in their conflict by the other couple and the professor who have settled on a Flash Gordon
-like planet and share its technology with them.
Robert A. Heinlein
Robert Anson Heinlein was an American science fiction writer. Often called the "dean of science fiction writers", he was one of the most influential and controversial authors of the genre. He set a standard for science and engineering plausibility and helped to raise the genre's standards of...
, concerning time travel
Time travel
Time travel is the concept of moving between different points in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space. Time travel could hypothetically involve moving backward in time to a moment earlier than the starting point, or forward to the future of that point without the...
and parallel universe
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
s. It is collected in the 1953 book Assignment in Eternity
Assignment in Eternity
Assignment in Eternity, is a collection of four mixed science fiction and fantasy novellas by Robert A. Heinlein, first published in hardcover by Fantasy Press in 1953, with some of the stories somewhat revised from their original magazine publications, as follows:* Gulf .* Lost Legacy...
but was first published in 1941 in Astounding Science Fiction.
In this story five diverse students attend a philosophy seminar. The professor explains that he learned how to use his mind to go back in time and correct a bad mistake in his life. By hypnosis
Hypnosis
Hypnosis is "a trance state characterized by extreme suggestibility, relaxation and heightened imagination."It is a mental state or imaginative role-enactment . It is usually induced by a procedure known as a hypnotic induction, which is commonly composed of a long series of preliminary...
he lets them travel to alternate worlds
Parallel universe (fiction)
A parallel universe or alternative reality is a hypothetical self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a "multiverse", although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute reality...
of their choice. The religious person goes to her version of heaven
Heaven
Heaven, the Heavens or Seven Heavens, is a common religious cosmological or metaphysical term for the physical or transcendent place from which heavenly beings originate, are enthroned or inhabit...
. One couple eventually moves to a world at war with space invaders. They are helped in their conflict by the other couple and the professor who have settled on a Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon
Flash Gordon is the hero of a science fiction adventure comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond. First published January 7, 1934, the strip was inspired by and created to compete with the already established Buck Rogers adventure strip. Also inspired by these series were comics such as Dash...
-like planet and share its technology with them.