The Big Time

Greta Forzane tends soldiers at a recuperation station outside ordinary space and time, where raids into the past and future send battered fighters back for care. Born in Chicago, she works alongside companions from different eras in a place furnished for music, drinks and entertainment. Three officers arrive wearing hussar uniforms, and their angry exchanges disturb a staff already nervous about receiving them.

The science fiction story places a vast conflict among people trying to manage tempers, friendships and exhaustion. Bruce Marchant, one of the newcomers, declares himself a poet and objects to forces that change history and make familiar words uncertain. His complaint ends with an absurd mistake in military supplies: both his gloves fit the left hand. Greta's candid voice moves between nightmares and jokes, giving readers a close view of how life feels when the past can be revised and each return from action brings fresh trouble.