Time for the Stars
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 First Edition cover for Time for the Stars |
|
| Author | Robert A. Heinlein |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Clifford Geary |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Scribner's |
| Released | 1956 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | NA |
| Preceded by | Tunnel in the Sky |
| Followed by | Citizen of the Galaxy |
Time for the Stars is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published by Scribner's in 1956 as one of the Heinlein juveniles.
[edit] Plot summary
The basic plot line is derived from the 1911 "thought experiment in special relativity" propsosed by French physicist Paul Langevin, where "one of two twin brothers undertakes a long space journey with a high-speed rocket at almost the speed of light, while the other twin remains on Earth. When the traveler returns to Earth, he is younger than the twin who stayed put". This elaborated on an earlier statement of Einstein, who talked in a more general way on "a living organism" which does the travelling and "corresponding organisms" which had remined put and aged far more quickly.
The phenomenon desribed by Langevin got the name "the twin paradox" though he himself insisted there was no real paradox involved. Heinlein has essentially taken the two-sentence description and expanded it into a full-length book about two actual twins, the other people in their lives and the adventures undegone by the space-travelling one - though adding an important element in assuming the two twins to be able to communcate telepathically and further assuming telepathy to be instantaneous and unbound by the rules of relativity - for which there is little if any scientific basis.
The Long Range Foundation is a non-profit organization that funds expensive, long-term projects for the benefit of mankind. It has built a dozen exploratory spaceships (torchships), but only near-lightspeed travel is possible. It is also searching for twins and triplets who can communicate with each other telepathically. This process is apparently instantaneous, making it the only practical way for the ships to communicate with Earth while they go looking for planets to colonize light years away.
Tom Bartlett, one of the telepathic twins, signs on as crew. Also on the journey is his uncle Steve, a military man. The trip is fraught with problems as trivial as an annoying roommate, and as serious as mutiny.
The ship visits several star systems. Due to the nature of relativistic travel, the twin who remained behind ages faster and eventually the affinity between them is weakened to the point that they are no longer able to communicate easily. However, some of the spacefaring twins, including the protagonist, are able to connect with the descendants of the Earthbound twins. Tom works with first his niece, then his grandniece and finally his great-grandniece.
Each of the twelve starships sent out has a much larger crew than necessary for two reasons. First, a stable society requires a minimum number of people. Second, there have to be enough "spares" to take over in case of death, both natural and the result of the dangers of exploration.
The last planet scouted proves to be particularly deadly, when unexpectedly intelligent and hostile natives capture and kill a large portion of the remaining crew, including the Captain and Tom's uncle. The reserve Captain takes charge, but is unable to restore the morale of the devastated survivors. When he insists on continuing the mission, rather than returning to Earth, the crew begins to consider mutiny. Finally, he notifies Earth of the dire situation. Soon afterwards, they are surprised by the appearance of another, more advanced spaceship. It turns out that scientists on Earth have discovered FTL travel, in part due to research into the nature of telepathy, and are collecting the crews of the Long Range Foundation starships.
The explorers return to an Earth they no longer recognise, and in most cases, where they no longer fit in. Tom however comes back to marry his last partner, his own great-grandniece.
[edit] External link
- Time for the Stars publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
[edit] See also
