The Other End of Time

by Frederik Pohl

The novel is set in the near future, in a world in which the United States is struggling with many problems, including weapons of mass destruction, ecological damage, crime and hyperinflation. Then strange messages from space aliens are received. Dr. Pat Adcock has a theory that the aliens have taken up the old Starlab space station. Adcock recruits pilots Jimmy Lin and Martin Delasquez, an elderly astronomer (Rosaleen Artzybachova), and close protection agent Dan Dannerman (who is actually a government secret agent).

When they first explore the Starlab, they find strange alien technologies. Then suddenly, they are transported through space. The aliens have kidnapped the group because the aliens, called "Beloved Leaders", are battling against a terrorist named the Horch. The aliens are battling for dominance of the "Eschaton", which gives eternal life. The humans then learn that they are just copies of their old bodies; their real bodies were sent back to the Earth with wiped memories. Other copies have been experimented on with vivisection.