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<blockquote data-quote="Plane Sailing" data-source="post: 3126683" data-attributes="member: 114">Do you know how old that makes me feel?Essentially you have it right. In the Forever War, soldiers signed up for a tour of duty, zipped off in space ships at relativistic velocities and as a result their ageing slowed. When their tour of duty ended, not only had all their friends and family died, they couldn't even recognise the society they used to be part of, so almost always just signed up for another term.Larry Nivens 'known space' books include some pretty hard science, in that space travel starts off using RamRobots to scout out likely planetary systems, and then sending manned Bussard Ramjet craft out at near relativistic velocities with colonists on board (I can't remember whether they were frozen or not). It was only later on in the timeline that FTL travel via his version of hyperspace appeared (purchased from the 'Outsiders').Non Stop was one of the inspirations for the original Metamorphosis Alpha book. I don't recall whether it was obvious at the start of the book, or if it starts off as a kind of wierd tribal + tech mix, and the protagonist gradually discovers that they are all on board a generational starship where things have gone wrong (years and years and years ago). The idea was based around huge ships where new generations would be born and grow up during the flight. Several 20th century sci-fi authors used the idea in one or more short stories (a couple by AE Van Vogt come to mind, for instance).Cheers</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Plane Sailing, post: 3126683, member: 114"] Do you know how old that makes me feel? Essentially you have it right. In the Forever War, soldiers signed up for a tour of duty, zipped off in space ships at relativistic velocities and as a result their ageing slowed. When their tour of duty ended, not only had all their friends and family died, they couldn't even recognise the society they used to be part of, so almost always just signed up for another term. Larry Nivens 'known space' books include some pretty hard science, in that space travel starts off using RamRobots to scout out likely planetary systems, and then sending manned Bussard Ramjet craft out at near relativistic velocities with colonists on board (I can't remember whether they were frozen or not). It was only later on in the timeline that FTL travel via his version of hyperspace appeared (purchased from the 'Outsiders'). Non Stop was one of the inspirations for the original Metamorphosis Alpha book. I don't recall whether it was obvious at the start of the book, or if it starts off as a kind of wierd tribal + tech mix, and the protagonist gradually discovers that they are all on board a generational starship where things have gone wrong (years and years and years ago). The idea was based around huge ships where new generations would be born and grow up during the flight. Several 20th century sci-fi authors used the idea in one or more short stories (a couple by AE Van Vogt come to mind, for instance). Cheers [/QUOTE]

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