The World Is Round

The World is Round is a science fiction novel by Tony Rothman published in 1978 by Ballantine Books.

Plot summary

The story concerns a world named Patra-Bannk (known otherwise as Freeze-Bake), and a crew of explorers from another world named Two-Bit (because life is cheap there), seeking a treasure of metallic hydrogen.

Upon arriving at the planet, the four members of the expedition arrange themselves into two shuttlecraft.

Pike and Hendig, in one shuttlecraft, travel inland toward a mountain village where they hope to find the navigator, Paddelack, who was stranded there after Hendig's previous voyage. After finding him, they are captured by a group of locals known as the Gostum. Upon escaping from the Gostum stronghold of Konndjlan, Pike and Paddelack proceed to Daryephna, a fabled forbidden city where Pike hopes to find the metallic hydrogen.

Stringer and Valyavar take the other shuttle north along the coast about one hundred thousand kilometers and crash land near the city of Ta-tjenen. The locals consider Ta-tjenen to be the center of the world. Stringer awakens after the crash landing to find Valyavar missing, and he shoots and kills one of the natives who approach him, unaware that they were trying to help.

The planet's current inhabitants are human-like, but with six fingers on each hand and with skin that darkens and lightens dramatically as the weather changes. They are divided into semi-barbaric groups or tribes with historical enmity toward one another.

There are local legends of an ancient people called the Polkraitz who lived on Patra-Bannk centuries ago and had a much more advanced technology than is currently available. They left, but are prophesied to return when two of the traditional calendar systems coincide - an event known as the Golun-Patra that occurs once every 96 (Earth) years. The upcoming Golun-Patra is the twelfth Golun-Patra, which gives it added significance.

The planet's slow rotation rate results in extreme weather, alternating between freezing cold "nights" (Patras) lasting up to six (Earth) months during which the sun never rises and steaming hot "days" (Bannks) during which the sun never sets for a similar number of months.

Patra-Bannk is at least 50 times the size of Earth, six hundred thousand kilometers across. It is a type of Dyson sphere built around a black hole.

The book is set in a time in the far future when the galaxies are beginning to merge, prior to the "Big Crunch".

Major characters

• Stringer - An aimless, unsociable drifter who always speaks his mind and cares little what others think of him. He's brusque, dour, and bored with life on Two-Bit. Pike enlists him to join the expedition to Hendig's World (Patra-Bannk) after Stringer shows his skill with a sword in a tavern fight.
• Pike - Wealthy owner of the Two-Bit Transportation Corporation. Recognizes that the artifact that Hendig brought back from Patra-Bannk on his previous voyage is indeed metallic hydrogen, and that he could transform civilization if he could find more of it. He commands the expedition to Patra-Bannk and provides the spacecraft.
• Valyavar - A former priest and another member of the expedition to Patra-Bannk.
• Hendig - An oafish braggart who visited Patra-Bannk on an earlier voyage and makes outrageous claims about it, some of which might be true. The fourth member of the expedition.
• Paddelack - The navigator on Hendig's previous voyage to Patra-Bannk. He was left stranded and has remained there, living among the natives, for about twenty years when the story begins.
• Taljen - A Tjenen woman who befriends Stringer when he is stranded there.
• The Time Keeper (Alhane) - The hereditary scientist of Ta-tjenen. He believes the world is round and is determined to prove it, even though none of the other Tjenens believe him.
• Barbalan - A Gostum woman who helps Pike and Paddelack escape from Konndjlan.
• Neberdjer - Guiding intelligence of Patra-Bannk.

External links

• Tony Rothman's page about this book