
A fresh‑faced detective named Forsdon walks into a dim basement office of a secret police unit called the Department of Future Crime. There he meets Captain Marks, a grizzled veteran who shows him a hulking console named Cronus, a machine that flashes hazy images of events that have not yet happened. The first glimpse is a murder that will take place in five days, and Forsdon is forced to decide whether he can intervene.
Captain Marks explains that the device has already pinpointed several small crimes, but the police only manage to catch the perpetrators moments after the act. He argues that stopping a robbery is one thing, yet preventing a violent assault or a homicide could save lives. Forsdon is assigned to follow the leads, hoping the technology will be more than a glorified crystal ball.
Each attempt to intervene creates unexpected side effects, forcing Forsdon to confront the uneasy truth that seeing the future may not guarantee control. As the five‑day deadline looms, the moral stakes rise.
Language
en
Duration
~34 minutes (33K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2019-06-01
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1923–2002
A musician turned science fiction writer, he was known for thoughtful stories that mixed wit, culture, and big ideas. His novels and short fiction often stood out for their human focus as much as their futuristic settings.
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