Ark (novel)

Add links
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Ark
OCLC
320406261
Preceded byFlood 

Ark is a 2009 hard science fiction novel by English author Stephen Baxter. It is a sequel to his 2008 novel Flood. Ark deals with the journey of the starship Ark One, and the continuing human struggle for survival on Earth after the catastrophic events of Flood. The series continues in three pendant stories, which are described in the plot summary below.

Being hard SF, Ark contains many references to unrealised or hypothesised technology (Project Orion, the Alcubierre drive), physics (antimatter), and hypotheses about extraterrestrial life. Baxter credits several books and academic works in an afterword: See Scientific background below.

Plot summary

The events of Ark overlap with those of

Earth-like exoplanet and rebuild civilisation on the new world
. The nature of Ark Two is top secret.

Ark One requires 80 humans, of maximum genetic diversity to prevent

life support systems; Zane Glemp, son of Jerzy, specialising in warp drive physics; Kelly Kenzie, daughter of Edward, a natural leader who is named mission commander; and Wilson Argent, a pilot. They train in an academy in Denver
, Colorado, repurposed as the U.S. capital after the flooding of Washington, D.C.

Progress on the Ark's construction is slow, so the military takes over the Project. Initial plans to assemble the Ark in space are scrapped in favor of a

spectroscopic analysis of exoplanets in the hopes of discovering the chemical signatures of life
.

Mere weeks before the launch, some Candidates are forced out to make room for "gatecrashers", whose presence on the ship was guaranteed in exchange for funding from their affluent parents. Grace Gray, protagonist of Flood, is one of them. In addition, military

amputates
the instigator as punishment, which increases Wilson's power.

Nine years later, they arrive and discover that Earth II is sub-optimal: its high axial tilt creates temperature extremes on either side of its equator, making very little land livable. It is also poor in

simulated gravity
in the process.

When Kelly's group

displaced persons. She awkwardly reunites with her estranged son and her lover from her Academy days. Edward hopes to eventually colonise the Earth's mantle
with a race of genetically modified humans. (Baxter had earlier explored a similar idea in the novel Flux).

Meanwhile, the situation in Holle's hull deteriorates as Wilson leads a corrupt gang with his Illegal henchmen. Kelly had kidnapped the ship's only doctor, so Zane is no longer undergoing therapy and spreads rumours that the ship is actually a virtual reality simulation. The shipborn children, having never seen Earth for themselves, believe him and start a mutiny. Hoping to reveal the ship to be a simulation, they remove a metal plate from the hull, causing an uncontrolled decompression which kills and injures many passengers. Wilson escapes in a landing shuttle, but it has been sabotaged, so he returns to the ship in a space suit while the shuttle disintegrates from the warp drive's gravitational effects. A despondent Zane later commits suicide.

Holle assumes control of the ship and executes the head mutineer, but keeps Wilson alive because she needs his piloting skills to land on Earth III, a cold

tidally locked planet with dense air, a dynamic atmosphere and a red dwarf sun that fortunately appears a familiar white to the human eye. Since the remaining shuttle cannot seat all the passengers, Holle encourages the passengers to reproduce copiously: since children weigh little, many will fit on the shuttle, thus increasing genetic diversity. She sends three adults to accompany them: Wilson, Helen Gray and the Illegal Jeb. Helen and Jeb, whose children are not allowed on the shuttle due to genetic proximity, resentfully board. Wilson sets them down safely on a lake and they prepare to settle on their new world. The remaining crew on the Ark plan to conduct a survey of the planetary system
and beyond until they die.

Pendant stories

Three pendant stories have been published since, two in Asimov's Science Fiction: "Earth II" and "Earth III"; all later published together as "Landfall: Tales From the Flood/Ark Universe".

"Earth II" is set approximately 400 years after the events in Ark and deals with the struggles of the descendants of the 15 Ark One crew members who choose to settle there, rather than continue the journey to Earth III. Since Earth II lacks many of the resources needed to build an advanced society (e.g. oil, coal, uranium, precious metals), its peoples (who have now split into warring nations and

city states) have largely reverted to pre-industrial
technology, reliant mostly on stone, iron and wood.

"Earth III" is set approximately 1000 years after the events in Ark and deals with struggles of the Ark One crew members who choose to settle on Earth III. It is revealed that Helen Gray, Wilson Argent, and Jeb Holden fought and killed each other several years after their shuttle landed, forcing the 37 children who went with them to grow up on their own and develop their own society. Zane's quasi-religious idea of the world as a simulated reality persists; however, there is a growing movement of disbelievers.

A third tale, "Earth I", followed in a collection called Universes (also published under the title "Landfall"); it is set approximately 10,000 years later and brought characters from several of the now colonised worlds together and revealed the fate of the raft–dwelling survivors on the original, flooded Earth.

Critical reception

Ark received critical acclaim. Writing in The Guardian, Eric Brown gave the novel a very positive review, concluding that "Never has Baxter presented a more thrilling and moving glimpse of a possible future: Ark could well be his masterpiece."[1] In The Times, Lisa Tuttle also wrote approvingly, calling Ark "a grim but exciting tale of the ultimate in pioneering adventure, in the most unforgiving environment of all."[2] Reviews at Strange Horizons were also very positive.

Scientific background

  • George Dyson: Project Orion: Holt: 2002.
  • Casoli and Encranz: The New Worlds: Springer-Praxis: 2007.
  • Paul Glister: Centauri Dreams: Copernicus: 2004.
  • Extraterrestrial Life and Planetary System Ages: Icarus: 151: 307–313: 2001.
  • Yoji Kondo: Interstellar Travel and Multi-Generation Space Ships: Apogee: 2003.

Warp Drive and Field References:

  • Miguel Alcubierre: Classical and Quantum Gravity: Volume 11: L73-L77: 1994.
  • C. Clark et al.: Classical and Quantum Gravity: Volume 16: 3965–72 (1999).
  • C.Van Broek: Classical and Quantum Gravity: Volume 16: 3973–9 (1999).
  • D.Weiskopf: Visualisation of Four Dimensional Spacetimes: Dissertation, University of Tübingen: 2001.
  • Journal of the British Interplanetary Society: 61:9: September 2008: Seminar on Interstellar Propulsion Systems.

See also

References

  1. ^ Brown, Eric (1 August 2009), "Ark by Stephen Baxter", The Guardian (London)
  2. ^ Tuttle, Lisa (5 September 2009), "Sci-fi / fantasy: New work by Kim Stanley Robinson, Stephen Baxter, Chris Beckett and Alexandra Sokoloff", The Times (London)

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ark_(novel)&oldid=1208806844"