"While [download Guthrie] was gone, things changed in the Solar System." (2, p. 36)
Anyone who makes an interstellar round trip at sub-light speed must cope not only with what they find in another planetary system but also with how Earth and the Solar System have changed in their absence. I first learned this when reading the Dan Dare comic strip in the 1950s. Dan returned after ten years to find that the Mekon, from Venus, had conquered the Solar System. Much later, after another interstellar trip, Earth had been evacuated for some reason. I leave it as an exercise for blog readers to recall works by Poul Anderson and other sf writers where similar things happen.
5 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
I think it was from reading the stories of Poul Anderson that I first consciously grasped the implications of what STL interstellar travel meant. Almost certainly from reading TAU ZERO. I think, in addition, I saw that idea of how STL necessarily meant travelers who came back from such journeys would find a changed Earth in ORBIT UNLIMITED. And the last story in TALES OF THE FLYING MOUNTAINS shows us the Emett drive being used for STL travel.
And I recall how Larry Niven built his Known Space stories around the idea of using STL. Aside from him and Anderson, I am not sure I recall other SF writers using STL.
The problem with STL interstellar travel is precisely that: it's SLOW! It means accepting serious limitations on what SF writers could have their characters plausibly doing and how far and long they could go. Hypothesizing FTL travel gave writers more room and time for developing their characters and stories. And I consider the Alderson drive of Jerry Pournelle's Co-Dominium timeline and the hyperdrive of Anderson's Technic stories to be among the best of these fictional FTL drives.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
THE FOREVER WAR by Joe Haldeman.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Unfortunately, I never read that book by Haldeman.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
The character keeps returning to the interstellar war because he cannot fit in on the changed Earth.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
We see something similar in some of Anderson's STL stories, such as those collected in ORBIT UNLIMITED. Spacemen being generally glad to soon return to space because Earth has changed so much they could not fit in easily. And Anderson's Kith stories and STARFARERS also comes to mind.
Ad astra! Sean
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