Form: Novella
Year: 1989
Publication history:
- 1989 : Time Gate (pb) , Baen, 277 pp., ISBN 0-671-69850-8
- 1989 : Asimov's June 1989 (m) ,
- 1990 : The Year's Best Science Fiction, Seventh Annual Collection (tpb) , St Martins
- 1990 : Best New Science Fiction 4 (pb) , Robinson
- 1990 : Purjehdus Bysanttiin (pb) , Oy (Finland) (in Finnish "Tulkoon sotilas - ja myöhemmin: vielä toinen")
- 1992 : Secret Sharers (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 1) (tpb) , Bantam, 546 pp., ISBN 0-553-37068-5
- 1992 : Secret Sharers (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 1) (hc) , Bantam, 546 pp., 37068-5
- 1993 : The Secret Sharer (The Collected Stories of Robert Silverberg Volume 2) (tpb) , Grafton (UK), 395 pp., ISBN 0-586-21370-8
- 1994 : The New Hugo Winners, Volume 3 (pb) , Baen
- 1994 : Le Nez de Cléopâtre (hc) , Denoël (France), 314 pp., ISBN 2207241912, 14 (in French "Entre un soldat, puis un autre" tr. Hélène Collon)
- 2000 : Fictionwise (ol) , Fictionwise
- 2000 : Le Nez de Cléopâtre (pb) , Denoël (France), 320 pp., ISBN 2-207-25001-6, 621 (in French "Entre un soldat, puis un autre" tr. Hélène Collon)
- 2001 : Le Nez de Cléopâtre (pb) , Gallimard (France), 343 pp., ISBN 2070420760 (in French "Entre un soldat, puis un autre" tr. Hélène Collon)
Nominated for Nebula Award for best novelette, 1989. Winner of Hugo Award for best novella, 1990. Possible winner of an award for most punctuation in a story title.
Computer wizards of the 22nd century recreate famous historical personages in their machines and stage virtual meetings between them. Interestingly, Silverberg chose Francisco Pizarro and Socrates for this story instead of more well-known figures. Not that they're unknowns, they're just not obviously dramatic the way Hitler or Napoleon might have been. A very good story, deserving of its accolades. Aside from the computers used to create the AIs, no advanced technology is evident in the story. There is no time travel involved. Simulation is used to defeat the passage of time, in a way.