Blue Shift

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Blue shift (disambiguation)

Blue Shift is the tenth story chronologically to appear in Stephen Baxter's science fiction anthology novel Vacuum Diagrams. "Blue Shift" was originally published in Writers of the Future volume 5 in 1989.

Set in A.D. 5406, the story begins on an Earth that has been occupied by the Qax, an amorphous lifeform that profits from information and technology trade, for four centuries. Jim Bolder, a space pilot on the run from creditors, accepts an assignment from the Qax through a human intermediary to determine just what the Xeelee are constructing at the center of the local supercluster. Bolder is provided with a Xeelee nightfighter that can travel faster than light, and when he uses the drive, the stars around him appear blue -- the "blue shift" of the title.

As Bolder in the nightfighter approaches the Great Attractor, he discovers the Xeelee are constructing a massive ring from its matter, which they intend to use to flee the universe itself. But the Qax will not allow this information to be released, intending to keep it -- and a possible defense against the Xeelee -- for their own profit. Bolder dodges the Qax and launches a "starbreaker" that will gradually cause the Qax homeworld's sun to go nova, requiring them to divert their resources from the occupation of Earth, liberating the planet.

Books by Stephen Baxter (edit)
Xeelee Sequence: Raft - Timelike Infinity - Flux - Ring - Vacuum Diagrams - Reality Dust - Riding the Rock
Destiny's Children Series: Coalescent - Exultant - Transcendent - Resplendent
Manifold Trilogy: Time - Space - Origin - Phase Space
The Mammoth Trilogy: Silverhair - Longtusk - Icebones
A Time Odyssey Series: Time's Eye - Sunstorm - Firstborn
The Web Series: Gulliverzone - Webcrash
Time's Tapestry Series: Emperor - Conqueror
Others: Anti-Ice - The Time Ships - Voyage - Titan - Moonseed - The Light of Other Days - Traces - Evolution
Non-fiction: Deep Future - Omegatropic - Ages in Chaos