Martian Time-slip

Jack Bohlen is a schizoid repairman who emigrated to Mars with a wife & son. His father Leo visits to stake a claim to the seemingly worthless FDR mountain range after getting tipped of UN plans to build apartments there. The complex will be called AM-WEB, a contraction of “Alle Menschen werden Brüder”.
Bohlen encounters Arnie Kott, Water Worker’s Union head, when their helicopters are called to assist Bleekmen who’re thirsting in the desert. Bohlen rebukes Kott for hesitating, angering him.
After visiting his ex-wife Anne Esterhazy about their child, Kott hears of Milton Glaub’s theories, a psychotherapist at Camp Ben-Gurion, a developmental disorders institution. Glaub believes mental illnesses are altered states of time perception. Kott becomes interested in Manfred Steiner, an autistic boy there, hoping the boy sees the future–a skill useful for business ventures. The Camp is scheduled for closure. Kott offers to take Manfred. Manfred in turn is afraid of a future only he can see, in which Mars is derelict & the AM-WEB is a dumping ground where he’ll be confined.
Kott hires Bohlen to make a device to help Manfred perceive time at a regular pace. Bohlen likes Manfred but fears contact with the mentally ill may cause him to lapse. Bohlen begins an affair with Kott’s mistress.
One of Bohlen’s jobs is to service International School simulacra, where lessons are given by simulations of historical figures. These figures are disturbing, reminding him of episodes of perceiving people as mechanisms. When he takes Manfred to the school during a job, the simulacra act strangely. Manfred apparently alters their reality.
Only Heliogabalus, Kott’s Bleekman servant, connects to Manfred. From Manfred’s viewpoint, humans live in fractured time where they disappear from one place & reappear in another, moving jerkily. Heliogabalus is graceful.
Steiner’s suicide connected Kott to Manfred & deprived Otto Zitte of a livelihood. The story’s crux is a meeting between Kott, Bohlen & Anderton at Kott’s home, in Manfred’s view. Instead of occurring in real time, this episode previews before it occurs, apparently thru Manfred’s eyes with Bohlen’s participation. Each time events are more surreal, perceptions more hallucinatory. When events reach crisis, which Bohlen fears, having foreseen the outcome, he doesn’t experience it. His awareness stops as he & Doreen arrive at Kott’s home, picking up upon departure.
Pressured by Kott, Heliogabalus reveals that the sacred rock, Dirty Knobby, can be used as a time travel portal that Manfred may be able to open. Kott centers his interest in altering the past on revenge against Jack Bohlen & claiming the FDR mountains before Leo Bohlen.
The scheme goes wrong. Returned to the point where he 1st appeared, he finds himself repeating actions which led to meeting Bohlen, while dealing with perceptual distortions seemingly from Manfred. He’s unable to get to the mountains to plant a stake, being legally compelled to go the Bleekmens’ aid just as before. He encounters Bohlen as before, but attempting to shoot him he’s killed by a Bleekman arrow.
Waking from the vision, Kott realizes he’s failed. He decides to abandon his schemes & Doreen & let Bohlen get on with life. He’d like to help Manfred, who’s disappeared during the time-travel. Leaving the Dirty Knobby cave where they performed Heliogabalus’ ritual, he encounters Otto Zitte. After Steiner’s suicide Kott, his best customer, took over Steiner’s business. Zitte was competing, so Kott’s men destroyed the smuggler’s facility & his transportation. Zitte has pursued Kott, following his helicopter to Dirty Knobby. He shoots Kott, who thinks he’s still in Manfred’s hallucination. Bohlen & Doreen land in Kott’s helicopter & take Kott to town. Kott dies, believing he’s hallucinating.
Bohlen & Doreen realize their relationship was based on fearing Kott. Bohlen returns to his wife. There’s a disturbance in Steiner’s home. Steiner’s widow runs screaming into the night. Running in, Bohlen & Leo see an elderly Manfred in a wheelchair accompanied by Bleekmen. Manfred joined them after leaving Dirty Knobby, saving himself from AM-WEB. He’s returned in time to see family & thank Bohlen.

Cover: Darrell K. Sweet