Book: Raft
Author: Stephen Baxter
Find Online:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raft_(novel)
Date Read: September 2017
This author and the Xeelee Sequence was recommended to me by Richard. Raft is the first book in that series, so I decided to start from the beginning :)
…cold all the way to its center by now, but Rees liked to imagine he could feel a faint glow of heat from the surface, the last ghost of star fire—…
Rees rolled on down the shallow, curving slope; Nebula light faded, to be replaced by the white glow of a chain of well-spaced lamps. Rees peered up at them as he passed. No one knew how the fist-sized globes worked. Apparently the lamps had glowed here unattended for centuries—most of them, anyway; here and there the chain was broken by the dimness of a failed lamp. Rees passed through the pools of darkness with a shudder; typically his mind raced through the years to a future in which miners would have to function without the ancient lamps.
The Mole rolled to a halt. It replied—as it always replied—“Massive sensor dysfunction.” Its voice was thin and flat, and emanated from somewhere within its scuffed body. Rees often imagined that if he knew what lay behind that brief report he would understand much of what baffled him about the world.
Rees watched, thoughts racing. The events of the last few shifts came like pieces of a puzzle to the surface of his…
…sense of confinement returned, its weight more crushing than the pull of the star kernel. He would never get anyone else to understand his concerns. He was just some dumb kid, and his worries were based on hints, fragments, all partially understood. Would he still be a kid when the end came?
…wondered if he would have the courage to take the decisive step. Well, the moment had come. Staring at the magnificent tree he probed at his emotions: he knew he was no hero, and he had half-expected fear to encase him like a net of ropes. But there was no fear. Even the nagging pain in his hands subsided. There was only elation; the future was an empty sky, within which his hopes would surely find room.
Well, the world of the Belt was behind him now. Whatever dangers the future held for him, at least they would be new dangers.
The Belt and its human misery dwindled to a toy-like mote, falling slowly into the Nebula, and Pallis, hands and feet pressed against the flying wood, was where he was most happy.
He could see buildings and people set out in great swathes of life and activity; his head seemed to spin with the scale of it all, and he almost wished he were back in the comforting confines of the Belt. He shook his head, trying to dispel his dizziness. He concentrated on immediate things: the easy pull of gravity, the gleaming surface beneath his feet.
If only Gover would give him a few hints about what was going on— He closed his eyes. Come on, think it through, he told himself.
He traced letters one by one: E… n… c… y… c… Who, or what, was an “Encyclopaedia”? He daydreamed briefly about picking up a volume, letting it fall open… Again that almost sexual hunger for knowledge swept through him.
Here was the test, the moment of Rim balancing—but it had come in such an unexpected form. One question! What was the one key that might unlock the secrets against which his mind battered like a skitter against a globe lamp? The seconds ticked away; Hollerbach regarded him steadily, thin hands steepled before his face. At last, almost on impulse, Rees asked: “What’s a gee?” Hollerbach frowned. “Explain.” Rees bunched his fists. “We live in a universe filled with strong, shifting gravity fields. But we have a standard unit of gravitational acceleration… a gee. Why should this be so? And why should it have the particular value it does?” Hollerbach nodded. “And what answer would you anticipate?” “That the gee relates to the place man came from.”
“Rees, the secret of a Scientist is not what he knows. It’s what he asks. I think you’ve got that trick. Maybe, anyway…”
It wasn’t its orbit around the Core which kept the Raft aloft, Rees told himself; it was the continuance of human understanding.
Raft—the Belt mine and (perhaps) the legendary, lost Boney worlds—there, Rees knew from his own experience, understanding of the human past and the structure of the universe had been reduced to little more than fanciful tales. Fortunately for the Scientists, most of the other Classes’ apprentices were quite happy with this state of affairs. The Officer cadets in particular sat through their lectures with every expression of disdain, clearly eager to abandon this dry stuff for the quick of life, the exercise of power. So the Scientists went unchallenged, but Rees wasn’t sure about the wisdom of their policy. The Raft itself, while still comfortable and well-supplied compared.
As for the human colonies away from the Raft—the Belt mine and (perhaps) the legendary, lost Boney worlds—there, Rees knew from his own experience, understanding of the human past and the structure of the universe had been reduced to little more than fanciful tales. Fortunately for the Scientists, most of the other Classes’ apprentices were quite happy with this state of affairs. The Officer cadets in particular sat through their lectures with every expression of disdain, clearly eager to abandon this dry stuff for the quick of life, the exercise of power. So the Scientists went unchallenged, but Rees wasn’t sure about the wisdom of their policy. The Raft itself, while still comfortable and well-supplied compared to the Belt, was now riven by shortages.
…adverse effect, Rees realized. Turning facts into precious things made them seem sacred, immutable; and so he saw Scientists pore over old printouts and intone litanies of wisdom brought here by the Ship and its Crew, unwilling — or unable — to entertain the idea that there might….
And the enslaving of knowledge had another adverse effect, Rees realized. Turning facts into precious things made them seem sacred, immutable; and so he saw Scientists pore over old printouts and intone litanies of wisdom brought here by the Ship and its Crew, unwilling—or unable—to entertain the idea that there might be facts beyond the aging pages, even—breathe it quietly—inaccuracies and mistakes!
“At least that’s a little less dubious than some of the other proposals I’ve heard. But if so, what precisely is the relationship between the strength of gravity and the period?” “We can’t say,” Rees blurted. “Not without more data.” “Now that,” Hollerbach said, “is the first intelligent thing any of you have said this shift. Well, ladies and gentlemen, I suggest you proceed to gather your facts. Let me know what you find out.” He stood, stiffly, and walked away.
So there was more to do with billion-strength gravity than measure it and fight it—
The space-facing edge of the platform was suspended over the Rim of the Raft, and a section of the floor was inset with sheets of glass. Rees stood over the depths of the Nebula; it felt as if he were floating in the air. He could see hundreds of stars scattered in a vast three-dimensional array, illuminating the air like mile-wide globe lamps; and at the center of the view, towards the hidden Core of the Nebula, the stars were crowded together, so that it was as if he were staring into a vast, star-walled shaft.
Rees, looking at the scene as if through new eyes, found himself hiding another grin.
Nead frowned. “I don’t understand.” “I bet you don’t.” Rees laughed. “But I’ll tell you anyway, so you’ll know the questions to ask…”
Briefly he marveled at his own callous coolness. But in the end, he reflected, he was responding to a harsh, terrible truth. Humans could be replaced. The Telescope couldn’t.
Even now the flight was a sight that lifted his heart. Humans were capable of such beauty, such great feats…
“But it won’t be as hard as for the rest of them.” He jabbed a thumb toward the Scientists. “And remember I had a choice. I could have joined the revolution and stayed on the Raft.” Pallis scratched his beard. “I’m not sure I understand why you didn’t. The Bones know I’ve no sympathy with the old system; and the way your people had been kept down must have made you burn.” “Of course it did. But… I didn’t go to the Raft to throw fuel bombs, tree-pilot. I wanted to learn what was wrong with the world.” He smiled. “Modest, wasn’t I?” Pallis lifted his face higher. “You were damn right to try, boy. Those problems you saw haven’t gone away.”
“But it won’t be as hard as for the rest of them.” He jabbed a thumb toward the Scientists. “And remember I had a choice. I could have joined the revolution and stayed on the Raft.” Pallis scratched his beard. “I’m not sure I understand why you didn’t. The Bones know I’ve no sympathy with the old system; and the way your people had been kept down must have made you burn.” “Of course it did. But… I didn’t go to the Raft to throw fuel bombs, tree-pilot. I wanted to learn what was wrong with the world.” He smiled. “Modest, wasn’t I?” Pallis lifted his face higher. “You were damn right to try, boy. Those problems you saw haven’t gone away.”
Rees felt as if he were suspended over a void, as if he were one of the unfortunates lost in the catastrophe; but the depths were composed not of air but of the baseness of human nature.
Rees woke from a dream of falling. His back was pressed against the inner face of the whale, his hands locked around folds of cartilage; cautiously he uncurled his fingers and worked the stiff joints.
“I haven’t time to waste on resting… You have to tell them—“ “What?” “To spread. Fan out through this nebula. We’ve got to fill every niche we can find here; we can’t rely on relics of an alien past any more. If we’re to prosper we must become natives of this place, find ways to live here, using our own ingenuity and resources…”