Plot Summary Sirens of Titan

Between Timid and Timbuktu Summary

Sirens of Titan tells the story of the wide-ranging journey of Malachi Constant, the wealthiest man on Earth, from Earth to Mars to Mercury, back to Earth, and finally to Titan, a moon of Saturn. Along the way, Constant is seemingly manipulated and controlled by Winston Miles Rumfoord, an American aristocrat whose existence has been scattered across time and space after flying into a warped region of the solar system while on a space flight to Mars. Rumfoord builds up a small civilization on Mars and leads it into a suicidal mission to take over Earth as a prelude to introducing a new religion on Earth that teaches that God is completely indifferent to the welfare of humankind. He uses Constant as a symbolic figure in this faith, and humiliates his erstwhile wife, Beatrice, in a grand spectacle during which the two of them are exiled on Titan along with their son, Chrono. Once on Titan, they learn from an extraterrestrial called Salo that even Rumfoord has been manipulated in a much larger scheme with the seemingly small purpose of providing Salo with a missing part for his space ship.

The narrator introduces the story by looking back at the events that he will describe. The time he is describing is said to be the period called the "Nightmare Ages", "between the Second World War and the Third Great Depression" (p. 7).

A crowd has gathered outside the high walls surrounding the Rumfoord Estate in Newport, Rhode Island. They have gathered because there is to be a "materialization".

The materializations have been taking place for nine years, on a precise schedule. Winston Niles Rumfoord and his dog, Kazak, materialize inside the estate at these intervals, witnessed only by Mrs. Beatrice Rumfoord and her servants. Following each materialization, Mrs. Rumfoord posts a notice outside the high walls affirming that the materialization took place, but giving no details. Despite numerous entreaties, nobody has ever been allowed to enter the estate to witness one of these materializations.

A few minutes before the materialization is to take place, the police guarding the walls tell the crowd that it already has taken place outside the walls and a few blocks away. This sends the crowd running off, and is meant to clear the way for a limousine, which is approaching the tiny single door in the wall.

The limousine pulls up and Malachi Constant, the richest man in the country, steps out, wearing a disguise. He has been invited, at the express wish of Winston Rumfoord, to witness the materialization.

Here the narrator inserts a short account of the cause of these materializations. While flying his personal spaceship to Mars, Rumfoord, along with his dog, flew his craft into something called a chrono-synclastic infundibulum, a type of warp region of space. It scattered their existence across both time and space. Ever since, Rumfoord and his dog have materialized in different parts of the solar system at regular intervals. Existing outside of time and space, Rumfoord can now see into the past and the future and can read minds.

Constant lets himself into the estate using the key furnished with his invitation. The invitation, sent by Beatrice, had said that Rumfoord knew Constant well, having met him on Titan. Constant has never been to Titan or met Rumfoord before.

He finds the grounds overgrown, with just one mown path toward the large house. He follows the path until it forks to go around a large, dry fountain. Rather than choose a path, Constant climbs over the fountain itself.

He is let into the house by an elderly butler and is greeted by Rumfoord. Constant, who up to now has always felt superior to anyone he has met, for the first time feels inferior to someone. He begins to feel panicky and tries to assure himself of his own greatness. Rumfoord informs him that he can read his mind.

Rumfoord leads Constant through the house. They pass a large portrait of a girl dressed in white standing with a white pony. Rumfoord explains it is a portrait of his wife as a girl. Rumfoord takes him to a tiny sitting room with just two chairs. They are seated.

Rumfoord tells Constant that his wife has not been to see him since the first time he materialized. After he had told her something about the future, she had become very upset. Rumfoord says she became upset when he told her that she and Constant were going to be married on Mars and have a child. Constant has never met Mrs. Rumfoord and has never been to Mars.

The narration pauses here for a further description of the aristocratic Rumfoord compared with the similarly wealthy but relatively classless Constant.

Constant is unsure how to respond to Rumfoord's announcement about his future. Rumfoord continues, saying that Mars is not the only place he will visit. He will visit Mars, Mercury, and then Earth again before eventually ending up on Titan.

Again, the narration digresses and describes the status of space flight at the time of the events. Once the chrono-synclastic infundibula were discovered, attempts to send men into space had stopped abruptly. The last spacecraft built was one called The Whale, built by a company owned by Constant.

The discovery of the chrono-synclastic infundibula has given rise to a series of religious movements that imagine them as God's way of humbling humankind, comparing the grasping for space to the story of the tower of Babel.

Returning to the conversation between the two men, Constant asks why he will be traveling to all these places in order to get to Titan. Rumfoord does not answer him directly, but assures him he will be going. He tells Constant that the most beautiful women in the world live on Titan. He gives Constant a photograph of three extremely beautiful women. Constant is stunned. Rumfoord continues and tells Constance that he and Beatrice will have a son, named Chrono.

Constant is confused an unsure. Finally, Rumfoord tells him that his son, Chrono, will pick up a small piece of metal on Mars and keep it as a good luck piece. This piece of metal is very important, Rumfoord tells him. As he is talking, Rumfoord begins to gradually vanish, starting at his fingertips and ending at his grin. "See you on Titan," the grin says to Constant (p. 39).

After Rumfoord disappears, Constant meets Beatrice Rumfoord on his way out, although she tries to avoid him. She informs Rumfoord that her husband's visits make her "ill", and that she considers him to be insane because of his improbable predictions. Constant mentions that it is perhaps not so improbable to predict that he would travel through space, since he owns a large spacecraft. Beatrice is startled by this news.

Constant puts his disguise back on and leaves the estate. Outside, people wanting to know what he has seen and what Rumfoord has told him mob his limousine. The limousine moves through the crowd and rushes off.