What is the title of a dystopian Sci-Fi short story where slaves escape from the future to the past?
I’m trying to find the title and author of a science-fiction short story that was published in the pulps sometime in the early 80’s. The plot revolves around slaves from a dystopian future escaping to the “present†through the use of time portals that open randomly all over the planet. Many of the refugees were horribly tortured by the mysterious elites who rule the future and as a result are unable to be incorporated into modern society due to extreme behavioral problems. For the most part they are warehoused in concentration camps across the planet while researchers try to learn about the future and reverse-engineer the small number of artifacts the slaves occasionally bring back with them. The protagonist, I believe, was a female researcher who discovers an artifact with one of the slaves that she is afraid to turn over to her superiors because she has begun to believe that certain individuals are seeking to create the very society that the slaves are trying to escape from.
- Seeker
Tags: Artifact, Artifacts, Pulps, Reverse Number, Sci Fi
