We delved into some time travel and alternate history facts about 16th century Mexico sci-fi this go around. Very La Jette (or 12 Monkeys if you prefer).
A guy and gal go out scuba hunting for ocean treasure and find a golden mask. The guy is all about it but the gal senses evil and wants him to throw it back. Nah, I’m gonna put it on instead, he says. He sees visions of them in the near future. Guy decides to try and sell the mask. He disappears. His brother comes looking for him. Finds the girl. Finds the mask. Puts on the mask. Gets chased by mysterious gun guys. The mask tells him what to do by showing him seconds into the future. It guides him to a house. He knocks on the door. They mistake him for someone else and put him on an awaiting helicopter which is really a space ship. Get it? Got it? Good.
The spaceship takes him to a military fort in the Mexican mountains in the early 1500s. Still mistaken for the other guy he joins the crew. They are there to help the Incas fight the Conquistadors. The people in charge of the military base are Incas from the future and they are fighting Aztecs from the future. The Conquistador guy also has a mask that he uses to win battles.
The military crew take pills to make them look like Incas. They join the real Incas down on the ground to fight but not with obvious future space weapons. The fight doesn’t go well. In the middle of the battle a hologram guy ala Quantum Leap shows up to talk to our mask guy about said mask.
Our mask guy is then captured by future Aztecs and questioned. He gives them nothing. They send him back to his fort and the future Incas make him the boss. Everyone is dead except a teenage girl they had saved from a ritual sacrifice. He takes her down from the mountain. Has sex with her. Marries her. Partners up with her revolutionary uncle. Spends a couple years in the city getting ready for battle. This part of the book becomes an ancient war novel. There is nothing sci-fi about it besides the occasional use of the mask. He’s too afraid to put the mask on because the other mask can see him and vice versa. We finally get a battle royal but no sci-fi weapons or anything. It was actually kind of cool that way.
This was pretty interesting albeit a little confusing. I feel like if I knew more about history, I might have enjoyed it more.
Ace Books 1981
\\\\\\\\\Review by Nick Anderson Instagram: next_stop_willoughby
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