A book about a smart ship doing a circuit of aging colonies
May 24, 2011 10:32 PM Subscribe
Looking for a forgotten Sci Fi book - a slower-than-light and sentient ship is running a circuit of human colonized worlds. It occasionally transports one or two people in cryosleep from their world to one of the next, generally as refugees. Over the thousands of years, the colonies have diverged in random directions and the ship is getting lonely.
One world is full of ship-builders. Another is full of people who's genetic drift has been so bad that they are no longer remotely human but think they are. One of the last worlds was planted on the edge of the galaxy and were attempting to develop time travel to end their existence before it started - the existential dread they got from a starless sky was that bad.
This wasn't a terribly obscure book but, for a week, I haven't been able to recollect the title or author. Thanks for any help.
One world is full of ship-builders. Another is full of people who's genetic drift has been so bad that they are no longer remotely human but think they are. One of the last worlds was planted on the edge of the galaxy and were attempting to develop time travel to end their existence before it started - the existential dread they got from a starless sky was that bad.
This wasn't a terribly obscure book but, for a week, I haven't been able to recollect the title or author. Thanks for any help.
Response by poster: No, not Robert Reed. :( But thanks for trying!
posted by codswallop at 10:46 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by codswallop at 10:46 PM on May 24, 2011
McCaffrey's The Ship Who Sang, maybe? Hm. Maybe not. Whatever you're describing, I wanna read it!
posted by goblinbox at 10:55 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by goblinbox at 10:55 PM on May 24, 2011
Response by poster: Nope, def. not by Anne McCaffrey. Thanks, tho!
posted by codswallop at 10:58 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by codswallop at 10:58 PM on May 24, 2011
The "starless sky" bit makes me think of that Asimov story Nightfall, though I don't remember a sentient ship.
posted by goblinbox at 10:59 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by goblinbox at 10:59 PM on May 24, 2011
Response by poster: Nope, not Nightfall but I appreciate the suggestion. This book was probably from the late 80s or early 90s. I could be wrong but that's what I'm thinking. It was thick enough that it was probably the 90s.
Not to derail my own question, but has anyone else noticed you can fairly reliably pick out what decade an SF book is from by its thickness? :)
posted by codswallop at 11:03 PM on May 24, 2011
Not to derail my own question, but has anyone else noticed you can fairly reliably pick out what decade an SF book is from by its thickness? :)
posted by codswallop at 11:03 PM on May 24, 2011
Dang! Um, any of these spark a memory? I want you to find out what it is so I can read it!
posted by goblinbox at 11:04 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by goblinbox at 11:04 PM on May 24, 2011
Response by poster: Argh, nope. But that was a pretty neat page.
posted by codswallop at 11:10 PM on May 24, 2011
posted by codswallop at 11:10 PM on May 24, 2011
(I know it's not exactly what you described, just thinking you might have conflated...)
posted by likeso at 3:20 AM on May 25, 2011
posted by likeso at 3:20 AM on May 25, 2011
Sparx has it! Read this quite a while back, couldn't correctly identify the ringing bells. Scratch Mayflies.
posted by likeso at 5:10 AM on May 25, 2011
posted by likeso at 5:10 AM on May 25, 2011
Response by poster: Winner, winner, chicken dinner, Sparx does have it! Thank you!
posted by codswallop at 8:01 AM on May 25, 2011
posted by codswallop at 8:01 AM on May 25, 2011
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posted by Conrad Cornelius o'Donald o'Dell at 10:45 PM on May 24, 2011