Tau Zero
Tau Zero by Poul Anderson
During it’s long journey to a new star system the Leonora Christine’s ion drive undergoes severe damage causing the ship to hurtle through space at untold speeds eventually leaving galaxies in its wake as millions and billions of years past by, while aboard the ship, the crew age at a normal right, uncertain whether they will ever set foot on land again.
It’s an insane concept, but one that Poul Anderson tells with such a confident scientific voice that you can’t help but believe the fantasy put in front of you.
I love the idea of a lone ship and its crew of fifty traversing the whole universe while trying to maintain some degree of sanity and hope onboard when the situation becomes more and more dire. The lost of their new home. The lost of their old. The possible demise of their solar system, and eventually the Milky Way itself. What an absolute mindfuck, while still needing to get through your basic duties and days, and form meaningful relationships that remind you of why you’re trying to survive in the first place.
The story is told through several characters with Reymont being our main point of contact. At first he’s cold and almost too authoritarian, but when everything goes to hell, he’s the type of guy you need in charge if you have any chance of survival. Several other characters like Lingren and Chi-Yuen Ai-Ling balance him, but he is definitely the character that fascinated me the most.
I’ve always liked those characters who do what needs to be done, no matter the consequences, or how those around them feel. You want him to calm down at times, show a little more compassion, but he’s always thinking of the next problem and solution, in the end, you can’t help but admire his conviction and resolve.
Tau Zero really was a great read. Loved the building tension and hopelessness as the situation got worse. The onboard relationships and social upheaval. The need for sex and life as it battles daily against death. The changing of the guard within the chain of command. All presented through science I can’t comprehend, but enjoyed reading.
It’s a story that can feel depressing with so much doom always present, but it never got me down. I was always intrigued to learn what the next part of the journey would be. What the next problem onboard was, and how they’d deal with it. So much of this book is daunting, but put in the position I like to think it would be fascinating as well. It’s a unique story incredibly well told, and deserves its place as a masterwork of Science Fiction, especially for any fans of Hard Sci-fi.
