The Borderland of Sol (story)
Encyclopedia
The Borderland of Sol is an English language
science fiction
novelette written in 1975 by Larry Niven
. It is the fifth in the Known Space
series of stories about crashlander
Beowulf Shaeffer
.
The story was originally published in Analog, January 1975, printed in the collection Tales of Known Space, Niven, Del Ray, reissued 1985 (ISBN 978-0-345-33469-5), and reprinted in Crashlander
, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 160–207 (ISBN 978-0-345-38168-2). The story won the Hugo Award
for Best Novelette in 1976 and was nominated for the Locus Poll Award
for Best Novelette in 1976.
It includes some solid science as well as 'space opera'. It is one of the earliest works of fiction to feature a black hole
.
Segments of the novel Fleet of Worlds
serve as a prequel to the story.
away from his love, Sharrol Janss. While visiting the Institute of Knowledge he runs into his old friend Carlos Wu. Carlos is the father of Janss' two children, a fact that he found so embarrassing that he decided to leave Earth rather than face Bey upon his expected return. But Bey proves perfectly happy to hear about the children, as his albinism denies him a license to have children of his own, and he and Sharrol had agreed that Carlos should act as a surrogate.
Reconciled, Carlos mentions that he has been contacted by Sigmund Ausfaller of the Bureau of Alien Affairs, who has offered him a ride to Earth. Bey has had several run-ins with Ausfaller in the past; Ausfaller aims to protect human-alien relations in any way he can, and at one point he planted a bomb on Bey's alien-provided General Products' #2 hull to prevent him from stealing it and potentially causing a sticky diplomatic incident. Worried about what might happen to Carlos at Ausfaller's hands, he decides to accompany him on his next meeting.
Bey, Carlos and Ausfaller meet. Ausfaller explains that alien passengers were aboard some of the vessels that disappeared, and he has been given the job of finding out what is going on to avoid further issues. His ship, the Hobo Kelly, appears to be a cargo and passenger ship, but in reality is a warship built out of a nearly invulnerable General Products' #2 hull, capable of 30G of acceleration, armed with guided missiles, an x-ray laser and smaller laser cannons. Additionally, of the eight ships that have disappeared to date, only two were incoming, the other six were outgoing. Their inbound mission should thus be safe.
This proves to be the case for most of the journey, but only moments before entering the outskirts of Sol the ship suddenly lurches and drops out of hyperspace
. Examining the area they discover three small tugs at some distance, but nothing else of interest. They turn towards Sol and continue on their way home while Bey checks the ship to try to find out what happened. He discovers that the hyperdrive motor is completely missing from the hull. When he informs the crew, Carlos uses the ship's hyperwave communications to retrieve information from Elephant's databanks on Earth, looking up a number of black hole
related topics.
When his inquiries are finally answered, he finds that one of bits of information was written by Dr. Julian Forward, a researcher Carlos has wanted to meet. Carlos calls him and they discuss the disappearing hyperdrive motor. Forward invites them to Forward Station to wait for a ferry to Earth. They agree to his plans, although Forward Station is right where the ships are disappearing. Ausfaller agrees that Carlos and Bey can go to Forward Station; he did not reveal himself during the conversation and the small ship would not give away the fact that there was a third crewmember.
After equipping for potential combat, Bey and Carlos ferry to the station to meet with Forward. He shows them his prize possession, the "Grabber", an electromagnetic assembly that lets him shake masses of neutronium to produce polarized gravitational waves, which he is attempting to use to establish communications with alien races who may not have discovered hyperwave. When Forward asks Carlos what he thinks has happened, Carlos explains that a black hole might have been able to do it - gravity is one of the few forces that can penetrate a General Products starship hull. When Carlos admits that he has heard of quantum black holes, Forward takes them both captive.
Forward explains that he found the Tunguska meteorite
, which was actually a small black hole. Returning it to the station he fed it the sphere of neutronium he was previously using for his communications attempt, thereby increasing its mass, and then fed in the exhaust of an ion engine into it to charge it up. The hole could now be manipulated with magnets, and towed around by the tugs. The tugs move it into the path of incoming starships to disable them, and then pirate the now-defenseless ships.
When the tugs return to the station, Forward suddenly asks if someone else is aboard the Hobo Kelly, a question that is answered when Ausfaller fires on the tugs, destroying two and causing the third to flee. The tugs drop the black hole, but Forward and his assistant Angel manage to catch it in the Grabber. However, by this time Bey has managed to free himself enough to cut through his bonds, which turns out to be the power cable feeding the Grabber, releasing the black hole once again. As the hole falls towards the station it hits the dome and cuts a hole in it, sucking Forward's assistant into it. Forward makes some adjustments on his control panel and is then sucked into the hole as well.
Ausfaller rescues Bey and Carlos, who explain what was happening. They speculate the Forward deliberately turned up the air pressure in his final moments in order to allow the two to live until Ausfaller returned. They watch as the quantum black hole collapses the asteroid and it disappears in a searing blast of light.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novelette written in 1975 by Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
. It is the fifth in the Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
series of stories about crashlander
Crashlander
Crashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
Beowulf Shaeffer
Beowulf Shaeffer
Beowulf Shaeffer is a fictional character from Larry Niven’s Known Space series. Shaeffer is a crashlander, a native of We Made It, a planet circling the star Procyon...
.
The story was originally published in Analog, January 1975, printed in the collection Tales of Known Space, Niven, Del Ray, reissued 1985 (ISBN 978-0-345-33469-5), and reprinted in Crashlander
Crashlander
Crashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 160–207 (ISBN 978-0-345-38168-2). The story won the Hugo Award
Hugo Award
The Hugo Awards are given annually for the best science fiction or fantasy works and achievements of the previous year. The award is named after Hugo Gernsback, the founder of the pioneering science fiction magazine Amazing Stories, and was officially named the Science Fiction Achievement Awards...
for Best Novelette in 1976 and was nominated for the Locus Poll Award
Locus Award
The Locus Award is a literary award established in 1971 and presented to winners of Locus magazine's annual readers' poll. Currently, the Locus Awards are presented at an annual banquet...
for Best Novelette in 1976.
It includes some solid science as well as 'space opera'. It is one of the earliest works of fiction to feature a black hole
Black holes in fiction
The study of black holes, bodies so massive that even light cannot escape, goes back to the late 18th century, though the term 'black hole' was only coined in 1967...
.
Segments of the novel Fleet of Worlds
Fleet of Worlds
Fleet of Worlds are both a location and a book in Larry Niven's Known Space series.The series consisting of this book and its sequels is referred to by the same title.-Novel:The novel, co-written by Niven and Edward M. Lerner, was released in 2007...
serve as a prequel to the story.
Plot summary
A rash of spaceship disappearances around Earth results in a dearth of available transit, stranding Beowulf "Bey" Shaeffer on JinxJinx (Known Space)
Jinx is a fictional world in Larry Niven's Known Space stories.-Description:The world is a satellite of a gas giant named Binary in the Sirius A system, and is home to a human colony. Jinx is six times more massive than Earth, and very dense, with a surface gravity of about 1.78 times Earth gravity...
away from his love, Sharrol Janss. While visiting the Institute of Knowledge he runs into his old friend Carlos Wu. Carlos is the father of Janss' two children, a fact that he found so embarrassing that he decided to leave Earth rather than face Bey upon his expected return. But Bey proves perfectly happy to hear about the children, as his albinism denies him a license to have children of his own, and he and Sharrol had agreed that Carlos should act as a surrogate.
Reconciled, Carlos mentions that he has been contacted by Sigmund Ausfaller of the Bureau of Alien Affairs, who has offered him a ride to Earth. Bey has had several run-ins with Ausfaller in the past; Ausfaller aims to protect human-alien relations in any way he can, and at one point he planted a bomb on Bey's alien-provided General Products' #2 hull to prevent him from stealing it and potentially causing a sticky diplomatic incident. Worried about what might happen to Carlos at Ausfaller's hands, he decides to accompany him on his next meeting.
Bey, Carlos and Ausfaller meet. Ausfaller explains that alien passengers were aboard some of the vessels that disappeared, and he has been given the job of finding out what is going on to avoid further issues. His ship, the Hobo Kelly, appears to be a cargo and passenger ship, but in reality is a warship built out of a nearly invulnerable General Products' #2 hull, capable of 30G of acceleration, armed with guided missiles, an x-ray laser and smaller laser cannons. Additionally, of the eight ships that have disappeared to date, only two were incoming, the other six were outgoing. Their inbound mission should thus be safe.
This proves to be the case for most of the journey, but only moments before entering the outskirts of Sol the ship suddenly lurches and drops out of hyperspace
Hyperspace (science fiction)
Hyperspace is a plot device sometimes used in science fiction. It is typically described as an alternative region of space co-existing with our own universe which may be entered using an energy field or other device...
. Examining the area they discover three small tugs at some distance, but nothing else of interest. They turn towards Sol and continue on their way home while Bey checks the ship to try to find out what happened. He discovers that the hyperdrive motor is completely missing from the hull. When he informs the crew, Carlos uses the ship's hyperwave communications to retrieve information from Elephant's databanks on Earth, looking up a number of black hole
Black hole
A black hole is a region of spacetime from which nothing, not even light, can escape. The theory of general relativity predicts that a sufficiently compact mass will deform spacetime to form a black hole. Around a black hole there is a mathematically defined surface called an event horizon that...
related topics.
When his inquiries are finally answered, he finds that one of bits of information was written by Dr. Julian Forward, a researcher Carlos has wanted to meet. Carlos calls him and they discuss the disappearing hyperdrive motor. Forward invites them to Forward Station to wait for a ferry to Earth. They agree to his plans, although Forward Station is right where the ships are disappearing. Ausfaller agrees that Carlos and Bey can go to Forward Station; he did not reveal himself during the conversation and the small ship would not give away the fact that there was a third crewmember.
After equipping for potential combat, Bey and Carlos ferry to the station to meet with Forward. He shows them his prize possession, the "Grabber", an electromagnetic assembly that lets him shake masses of neutronium to produce polarized gravitational waves, which he is attempting to use to establish communications with alien races who may not have discovered hyperwave. When Forward asks Carlos what he thinks has happened, Carlos explains that a black hole might have been able to do it - gravity is one of the few forces that can penetrate a General Products starship hull. When Carlos admits that he has heard of quantum black holes, Forward takes them both captive.
Forward explains that he found the Tunguska meteorite
Tunguska event
The Tunguska event, or Tunguska blast or Tunguska explosion, was an enormously powerful explosion that occurred near the Podkamennaya Tunguska River in what is now Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, at about 7:14 a.m...
, which was actually a small black hole. Returning it to the station he fed it the sphere of neutronium he was previously using for his communications attempt, thereby increasing its mass, and then fed in the exhaust of an ion engine into it to charge it up. The hole could now be manipulated with magnets, and towed around by the tugs. The tugs move it into the path of incoming starships to disable them, and then pirate the now-defenseless ships.
When the tugs return to the station, Forward suddenly asks if someone else is aboard the Hobo Kelly, a question that is answered when Ausfaller fires on the tugs, destroying two and causing the third to flee. The tugs drop the black hole, but Forward and his assistant Angel manage to catch it in the Grabber. However, by this time Bey has managed to free himself enough to cut through his bonds, which turns out to be the power cable feeding the Grabber, releasing the black hole once again. As the hole falls towards the station it hits the dome and cuts a hole in it, sucking Forward's assistant into it. Forward makes some adjustments on his control panel and is then sucked into the hole as well.
Ausfaller rescues Bey and Carlos, who explain what was happening. They speculate the Forward deliberately turned up the air pressure in his final moments in order to allow the two to live until Ausfaller returned. They watch as the quantum black hole collapses the asteroid and it disappears in a searing blast of light.
Trivia
- According to the afterword Niven wrote for this story in the collection Playgrounds of the MindPlaygrounds of the MindPlaygrounds of the Mind is a collection of short stories by Larry Niven, published in 1991. It is the sequel to N-Space.Many of the stories are set in Niven's Known Space universe...
, the character Julian Forward is named in honor of science fiction author Robert ForwardRobert ForwardRobert Lull Forward — known as Robert L. Forward — was an American physicist and science fiction writer...
. Forward returned the 'favor' by naming a character in his own novel Dragon's EggDragon's EggDragon's Egg is a hard science fiction novel written by Robert L. Forward and published in 1980. In the story, Dragon's Egg is a neutron star with a surface gravity 67 billion times that of Earth, and inhabited by cheela, intelligent creatures that have the volume of sesame seeds and live a...
Pierre Carnot Niven. - Niven originally pitched this story as an episode of Star Trek: The Animated SeriesStar Trek: The Animated SeriesStar Trek: The Animated Series is an animated science fiction television series set in the Star Trek universe following the events of Star Trek: The Original Series of the 1960s...
in 1973, but it was rejected by D. C. FontanaD. C. FontanaDorothy Catherine "D. C." Fontana is an American television script writer and story editor, best known for her work on the original Star Trek series.-Work with Gene Roddenberry:...
. They bought his story The Soft WeaponThe Soft Weapon"The Soft Weapon" is a science fiction short story written in 1967 by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was the basis of the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode, "The Slaver Weapon"...
instead which was produced as The Slaver Weapon. - The story is retold, from the point of view of Sigmund Ausfaller, in Juggler of WorldsJuggler of WorldsJuggler of Worlds is the sequel novel to Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner.It is set in the Known Space universe. Most of the book revisits earlier stories...
. - Pluto is dismissed as an escaped moon of Neptune, while the solar system's outer planets are listed as Neptune, Persephone, Caïna, Antenora, and Ptolemea, with Judecca reserved for the next discovery.
See also
- Neutron Star, the first story in the Beowulf ShaefferBeowulf ShaefferBeowulf Shaeffer is a fictional character from Larry Niven’s Known Space series. Shaeffer is a crashlander, a native of We Made It, a planet circling the star Procyon...
series. - At the CoreAt the Core (story)"At the Core" is an English language science fiction short story written in 1966 by Larry Niven. It is the second in the series of Known Space stories featuring crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer...
, the second story in the series. - FlatlanderFlatlander (story)"Flatlander" is an English language science fiction short story written in 1967 by Larry Niven. It is the third in the series of Known Space stories featuring crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer...
, the third story in the series. - Grendel, the fourth story in the series.
- ProcrustesProcrustes (story)"Procrustes" is an English language science fiction short story written in 1994 by Larry Niven. It is the sixth in the series of stories about crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer. The short story was originally published in Crashlander, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp...
, the sixth story in the series. - Ghost, the framing story in the collection CrashlanderCrashlanderCrashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
. - Fly-By-Night, the seventh story in the series, written after CrashlanderCrashlanderCrashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
.