in the future. After large numbers of people disappear, the remaining passengers become suspicious. The future team then uses special weapons to stun them before throwing them through the gate. During the removal of the passengers, they run into an unexpected hijacker. The ensuing gunplay is one-sided; one of the snatch team members is killed, and her stunner is lost. The rest of the team finishes removing the passengers and the real flight attendants. The team then scatters pre-burnt body parts around the plane so they will be found after the crash. As the plane approaches the moment when it is destined to crash, the lost weapon still has not been found. Upon returning to her present (our future), Louise is informed that the weapon that was left behind has caused a paradox and that it must be recovered to prevent a breakdown in the fabric of time. Miscellaneous information Most of the chapter titles are named after famous novels and short stories about time travel by other authors, as Varley mentions in the book's author's note: "The time-travel story has a long history in science fiction. The theme has been so extensively explored, in fact, that I found it no trouble to write a book with chapter titles borrowed almost exclusively from the long list of stories that served, in one way or another, as ancestors to this one." Film adaptation John Varley worked on numerous drafts of a screenplay for over ten years and half a dozen directors until it was finally filmed by Michael Anderson in 1989. As of July 2014, the film holds a 13% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. Reception Greg Costikyan reviewed Millennium in Ares Magazine #15 and commented that "Millennium is old-fashioned, seamless science fiction. One gets the feeling that all is done well, but most of it has been done before. Does this mean one shouldn't buy it? By no means. There is certainly little enough well-written old-fashioned science fiction being published." It was nominated for the Philip K. Dick Award in 1983, and for both the Hugo and Locus Awards in 1984. References External links Millennium at Worlds Without End Novels about time travel 1983 American novels American science fiction novels 1983 science fiction novels Novels by John Varley Aviation novels American novels adapted into films