Skip to main content

Looking for a story about a giant lost ecological ship, and the quirky guy who became its captain


I recall reading a book where the nondescript quirky captain of an independent starship was hired to take a group to a possible lost starship. The ship was a giant ecological repository and contained tech which had since been lost. Everyone tried to board, running afoul of various creatures and defenses. The independent captain (thought least likely to survive) wound up somehow managing to become recognized by the ecological ship as its new captain-owner, and spent the rest of the book providing its services, on his terms.



Part of this story also appears as a short story in an Analog magazine.


I probably read this in the late 80s, early 90s.



Answer



When you mentioned the part about how the "least likely to survive" guy becomes the new captain-owner of the big, powerful ship, it came to me in a flash!


Tuf Voyaging, a collection of shorter pieces about protagonist Haviland Tuf. Some of them had previously been published separately in magazines, then the author decided to add some new material and splice it all together into one book. These stories were written by George R.R. Martin, long before anyone had ever heard of A Game of Thrones and its sequels.


enter image description here


As you say, Haviland Tuf is part of a boarding party who enter this huge derelict "seedship" (called Ark) in the early pages of the book, and he is the only one who survives to become its new lord and master by default. The seedship has all sorts of superadvanced biotechnology, including the ability to clone various animals, or mass-produce certain viruses, etc., which makes it easy (in later stories, after he gets the hang of things) for him to tell the computers to tinker with one lifeform or another to provide a tailor-made solution to an ecological problem on whatever world he is currently orbiting.


Tuf tries to honor his bargains if his clients will hold up their end of the deal (which is not always the case), but sometimes his solutions turn out to have side effects which are not exactly what the local government, and/or the common people, really wanted. This allows Martin to explore some interesting ethical questions.


I don't have my copy handy, so this isn't a precise quote, but I remember that, at one point, a woman who dislikes his drastic solution to a problem then asks him something along these lines: "Who elected you to play god?"


Tuf says drily: "Politicians are elected. Gods normally arise by other means."



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

What is Tolkien trying to say in this letter?

In a draft of a letter, later recorded as #246, Tolkien makes a strange statement. I am interested in the first few sentences of the letter, but I will include the remainder for the sake of context. In the 'Mirror of Galadriel', 1381, it appears that Galadriel conceived of herself as capable of wielding the Ring and supplanting the Dark Lord. If so, so also were the other guardians of the Three, especially Elrond . But this is another matter. It was part of the essential deceit of the Ring to fill minds with imaginations of supreme power . But this the Great had well considered and had rejected, as is seen in Elrond's words at the Council. Galadriel's rejection of the temptation was founded upon previous thought and resolve. In any case Elrond or Galadriel would have proceeded in the policy now adopted by Sauron: they would have built up an empire with great and absolutely subservient generals and armies and engines of war, until they could challenge Sauron and destroy ...
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Was Galadriel's temptation of Boromir instrumental to his fall?

We know Galadriel tempted the members of the Fellowship, did she tempt Boromir with visions of taking the Ring and saving Gondor? In the books, Boromir willingly accepts the judgement of the council that the Ring should be destroyed, but after the meeting with Celeborn and Galadriel his personality seems to change. Was the temptation offered by Galadriel in some way responsible for Boromir's fall? Answer It's likely, but not certain I believe it is likely Galadriel tempted him with the ring, and in doing so re-ignited a pre-existing idea to take the ring, but to be clear lets break this down into three parts. Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir after setting off Boromir after being tempted Boromir at the Council of Elrond Boromir pleas for the ring to go to Minas Tirith, to help Gondor in its defense against Mordor. “ Why should we not think that the Great Ring has come into our hands to serve us in the very hour of need? Wielding it the Free Lords of the Free may surely...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more