Two science fiction novels by Jack McDevitt
Published on Oct 24, 2006 at 3:56 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under books, science fiction.
My last post was about a space elevator. Interestingly, there is actually a science fiction novel that has such a device in it. This is Deepsix by Jack McDevitt. I like McDevitt’s novels, or at least the few that I’ve read. He does a good job of working science into science fiction. In this novel, he writes about a planet called Deepsix that is about to be destroyed when a rougue gas giant passes through its star system. Now, actually it may be possible for planets to be ejected from star systems. That can occur if you have binary stars, or if you have two gas giants that form too close together. In this story, the gas giant is going to pass through the system, and its gravity will alter the orbit of Deepsix, disrupt the weather, and, finally, tidal forces will rip the planet apart. The description probably isn’t that far off of what would happen. But, of course, this is science fiction, so there has to be a story here. According to the novel, a team of researchers goes down to the planet to do a final catalog of the species living there. On the planet’s surface, they run into trouble that strands them there (of course!). They then find evidence of an advanced civilization that had lived there. And finally, they discover that there had been star faring visitors some decades or centuries back that had evacuated most of the population, saving them from the coming destruction of the planet. Meanwhile, would-be rescuers in orbit discover the remnants of a space elevator that the prior visitors had left. They fashion a sky hook net out of the carbon nanotubes to sweep down into the atmosphere and pluck the adventurers to safety.
Published the year after Deepsix, McDevitt also wrote Chindi. Most science fiction stories involving space travel make use of some sort of faster-than-light drive. This is a literary device that permits a story to be told with lots of events all within one character’s lifetime. Over the years, there have been all sorts of attempts to get around the annoying fact that there is a lot of space between stars and that it takes a long time to get there. Authors have talked about subspace, hyperspace, wormholes, warped space, the fifth dimension (whatever that is), and even alternate universes as ways of getting around the galaxy in a fairly short period of time. After all, without faster-than-light travel, it would take generations to get anywhere. Of course, some authors have taken that idea, and they have written about generation ships. However, in Chindi, McDevitt explores the possibility of an interstellar spaceship that moves at sub-light speed. Now, to fit this novel in with the rest of his universe, he does the normal assumption of some sort of faster-then-light travel. But, in this story, researchers studying a neutron star happen upon a series of advanced alien beacons. They follow the signals back to a ruined planet, where they find evidence of alien influences. The follow those influences to another star system, and eventually they find an enormous ship the size of an asteroid. One team goes inside and investigates, and to their horror, the giant ship begins to accelerate off to another star system. The other humans race ahead with their faster-than-light drive to the target star system, only to wait in vain. They come back, and to their surprise, they find that the monster ship, clearly an advanced technology, does not have faster-than-light drive! Rather it sails through space, going from star system to star system, taking centuries for each trip! This makes an interesting read.
So, there you have two very good sci-fi novels with some interesting science going on in them.
-Astroprof
Brian on October 24, 2006 at 11:43 pm: 1
My last post was about a space elevator. Interestingly, there is actually a science fiction novel that has such a device in it
Several, of course.
Clarke’s ‘Fountains of Paradise’.
Sheffield’ ‘The Web Between the Worlds’
KSR ‘Mars Trilogy’
David Gerrold lays claim to being the 3rd SF writer to use the space elevator in his ‘Bouncing’ trilogy.
Astroprof on October 25, 2006 at 9:32 am: 2
Oh, yes. There have been several novels and short stories with space elevators. McDevitt’s is’t the only one by any means! It just happens to be the one that I’ve read most recently.