Overview
John Fenton is a Project Remus engineer in “The Third Machine.” He is responsible for the Spectromat computer, the first machine, and the underground facility’s power systems after nuclear war leaves the project isolated.
Role
John witnesses Raymond Hayworth use the third machine to send a return signal across dimensions. When the experiment kills Raymond and irradiates the chamber, John pulls Helen Fenton away from the machine. A decade later, John and Helen are married and remain the only known people alive in their facility.
When the third machine reconnects with a parallel Project Remus facility, John befriends his beta-universe counterpart. Beta John helps the alpha facility rebuild the bridge and volunteers for the first physical crossing, but the attempt kills him. The death makes alpha John oppose further experiments and deepens the divide between him and Helen.
John later believes Helen Hayworth is his wife after she traps Helen Fenton and takes her place. He sends a warning from the Spectromat computer to other Project Remus instances, then enters the second machine expecting transfer to a living world. His final known situation is the destruction of his consciousness when Helen Hayworth overwrites his mind with beta Raymond Hayworth’s stored consciousness.