The story ends with Campbell talking into a recorder (presumably the source of the first-person narrative) reflecting on the mission and his relationship with Gwen. Campbell's frequent would-be assassins are revealed to be members of contemporary agencies also engaged in time manipulation who, for unknown reasons, do not want to see Mike rescued by the Time Corps.ĭuring the mission, Gwen is grievously wounded and Campbell loses his foot again, though the Time Corps succeed in retrieving Mike. Mike's assistance is needed in order to accurately predict the conditions and following events in each of the new universes created. Engaged in frequent time-travel, the Time Corps has been responsible for changing various events in the past, creating an alternate universe with every time-line they disrupt. Accepting only on Gwen's account, Campbell agrees to assist a team to retrieve the decommissioned Mike, a sentient computer introduced in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. After giving Campbell a new foot to replace one lost in combat years before, the Time Corps attempts to recruit Campbell for a special mission. Still pursued by assassins, Campbell and Novak are rescued by an organization known as the Time Corps under the leadership of Lazarus Long. After escaping to the Moon, Gwen claims to have been present during the revolt described in The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress. The writer-Colonel Colin Campbell, living under a number of aliases including his pen name 'Richard Ames'-is joined by a beautiful and sophisticated lady, Gwendolyn Novak, who helps him flee to Luna with a bonsai maple and a would-be murderer ('Bill').

Like many of his later novels, it features Lazarus Long and Jubal Harshaw as supporting characters.Ī writer seated at the best restaurant of the space habitat 'Golden Rule' is approached by a man who urges him that 'Tolliver must die' and is himself shot before the writer's eyes. The Cat Who Walks Through Walls is a science fiction novel by American writer Robert A.

Heinlein to sail beyond the sunset