''Ark'' is a 2009
hard science fiction
Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...
novel by English author
Stephen Baxter. It is a sequel to his 2008 novel ''
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
''. Ark deals with the journey of the
starship ''Ark One'', and the continuing human struggle for survival on Earth after the catastrophic events of ''Flood''. The series continues in three pendant stories, which are described in the plot summary below.
Being hard SF, ''Ark'' contains many references to unrealised or hypothesised technology (
Project Orion, the
Alcubierre drive
The Alcubierre drive () is a speculative warp drive idea according to which a spacecraft could achieve apparent faster-than-light travel by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, under the assumption that a configurable ...
),
physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
(
antimatter
In modern physics, antimatter is defined as matter composed of the antiparticles (or "partners") of the corresponding particles in "ordinary" matter. Antimatter occurs in natural processes like cosmic ray collisions and some types of radioac ...
), and hypotheses about
extraterrestrial life. Baxter credits several books and academic works in an afterword: See ''
Scientific background'' below.
Plot summary
The events of ''Ark'' overlap with those of ''
Flood
A flood is an overflow of water ( or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are an area of study of the discipline hydrol ...
'': in preparation for a flood that will completely submerge the Earth's continents by 2052, the billionaire Nathan Lammockson builds ''Ark Three'', a gigantic ship that will sail the waters of the drowned Earth. Skeptical of the project's viability, the U.S. government recruits billionaires Edward Kenzie, Patrick Groundwater and Jerzy Glemp to fund the construction of ''Ark One'' (later renamed ''Project Nimrod), a generation ship capable of
superluminal travel using an
Alcubierre warp drive. The plan is to fly ''Ark One'' to an
Earth-like exoplanet and
rebuild civilisation on the new world. The nature of ''Ark Two'' is top secret.
''Ark One'' requires 80 humans, of maximum genetic diversity to prevent
inbreeding
Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders and o ...
among their descendants, to be trained from a young age in spaceship maintenance. These "Candidates" include: Holle Groundwater, daughter of Patrick, specialising in
life support systems; Zane Glemp, son of Jerzy, specialising in warp drive physics; Kelly Kenzie, daughter of Edward, a natural leader who is named mission commander; and Wilson Argent, a pilot. They train in an Academy in
Denver, Colorado
Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, repurposed as the U.S. capital after the flooding of Washington, D.C.
Progress on the Ark's construction is slow, so the military takes over the Project. Initial plans to assemble the Ark in space are scrapped in favor of a
Project Orion-style nuclear drive which will send the ground-built Ark towards
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a mass more than two and a half times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined, but slightly less than one-thousandth t ...
. There, it will gather antimatter particles created by gravitational interactions with
Io to power the warp drive; in addition, a
sunshade will allow its telescopes to conduct
spectroscopic analysis
Spectroscopy is the field of study that measures and interprets the electromagnetic spectra that result from the interaction between electromagnetic radiation and matter as a function of the wavelength or frequency of the radiation. Matter wa ...
of exoplanets in the hopes of discovering the chemical signatures of
life
Life is a quality that distinguishes matter that has biological processes, such as Cell signaling, signaling and self-sustaining processes, from that which does not, and is defined by the capacity for Cell growth, growth, reaction to Stimu ...
.
Mere weeks before the launch, some Candidates are forced out to make room for "gatecrashers", whose presence on the ship was guaranteed in exchange for funding from their affluent parents. Grace Gray, protagonist of ''Flood'', is one of them. In addition, military
mutineers
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military, of a crew or of a crew of pirates) to oppose, change, or overthrow an organization to which they were previously loyal. The term is commonly used for a rebellion among memb ...
(nicknamed "Illegals" by the crew) force their way onto the ship. Nevertheless, the launch is successful and by 2042 they have gathered more than enough antimatter and head for a promising "Earth II" planet in the
82 Eridani system. During transit, it emerges that Zane has
dissociative identity disorder
Dissociative identity disorder (DID), better known as multiple personality disorder or multiple personality syndrome, is a mental disorder characterized by the presence of at least two distinct and relatively enduring personality states.
The di ...
due to abusive parenting and sexual molestation by his Academy tutor, while Wilson begins challenging Kelly's leader status. A pregnant Grace gives birth to a daughter, Helen, and the crew suffer deaths and damage during a fire caused by a Candidate's attempted murder of an Illegal. Kelly loses respect when she
amputate
Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indi ...
s the instigator as punishment, which increases Wilson's power.
Nine years later, they arrive and discover that Earth II is sub-optimal: its high axial tilt creates temperature extremes on either side of its equator, making very little land livable. It is also poor in
minerals
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed ...
, presumably exhausted by a previous civilisation which has left ruined buildings behind. The crew are of three minds over what to do next: Wilson, Holle, and Grace join a majority deciding to push on to "Earth III", which is 30 years' travel away in the constellation of
Lepus
Hares and jackrabbits are mammals belonging to the genus ''Lepus''. They are herbivores, and live solitarily or in pairs. They nest in slight depressions called forms, and their young are able to fend for themselves shortly after birth. The gen ...
. Kelly leads a group returning to Earth, while a minority colonise Earth II. Once the colonists land, the remaining passengers split up the ship's two hulls and the warp drive to go their separate ways, losing
simulated gravity
Artificial gravity is the creation of an inertial force that mimics the effects of a gravitational force, usually by rotation.
Artificial gravity, or rotational gravity, is thus the appearance of a centrifugal force in a rotating frame of re ...
in the process.
When Kelly's group
water land on the flooded Earth, they make radio contact with scientist Thandie Jones, who discovered the cause of the flooding in ''Flood''. She in turn contacts Edward Kenzie, who despatches a submarine to take them to Ark Two, which turns out to be an
underwater habitat
Underwater habitats are underwater structures in which people can live for extended periods and carry out most of the basic human functions of a 24-hour day, such as working, resting, eating, attending to personal hygiene, and sleeping. In thi ...
powered by the geothermal heat of
Yellowstone
Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...
. Edward berates his daughter for failing him, and Kelly learns that former Candidate Don Meisel and Ground Control commander Gordo Alonzo have both died battling angry
displaced persons
Forced displacement (also forced migration) is an involuntary or coerced movement of a person or people away from their home or home region. The UNHCR defines 'forced displacement' as follows: displaced "as a result of persecution, conflict, g ...
. She awkwardly reunites with her estranged son and her lover from her Academy days. Edward hopes to eventually colonise the Earth's
mantle with a race of genetically modified humans. (Baxter had earlier explored a similar idea in the novel ''Flux'').
Meanwhile, the situation in Holle's hull deteriorates as Wilson leads a corrupt gang with his Illegal henchmen. Kelly had kidnapped the ship's only doctor, so Zane is no longer undergoing
therapy
A therapy or medical treatment (often abbreviated tx, Tx, or Tx) is the attempted remediation of a health problem, usually following a medical diagnosis.
As a rule, each therapy has indications and contraindications. There are many different ...
and spreads rumours that the ship is actually a virtual reality simulation. The shipborn children, having never seen Earth for themselves, believe him and start a mutiny. Hoping to reveal the ship to be a simulation, they remove a metal plate from the hull, causing an
uncontrolled decompression
Uncontrolled decompression is an unplanned drop in the pressure of a sealed system, such as an aircraft cabin or hyperbaric chamber, and typically results from human error, material fatigue, engineering failure, or impact, causing a pressure vesse ...
which kills and injures many passengers. Wilson escapes in a landing shuttle, but it has been sabotaged, so he returns to the ship in a space suit while the shuttle disintegrates from the warp drive's gravitational effects. A despondent Zane later commits suicide.
Holle assumes control of the ship and executes the head mutineer, but keeps Wilson alive because she needs his piloting skills to land on Earth III, a cold
tidally locked
Tidal locking between a pair of co-orbiting astronomical bodies occurs when one of the objects reaches a state where there is no longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a complete orbit. In the case where a tidally locked bo ...
planet with dense air, a dynamic atmosphere and a
red dwarf sun that fortunately appears a familiar white to the human eye. Since the remaining shuttle cannot seat all the passengers, Holle encourages the passengers to reproduce copiously: since children weigh little, many will fit on the shuttle, thus increasing genetic diversity. She sends three adults to accompany them: Wilson, Helen Gray and the Illegal Jeb. Helen and Jeb, whose children are not allowed on the shuttle due to genetic proximity, resentfully board. Wilson sets them down safely on a lake and they prepare to settle on their new world. The remaining crew on the Ark plan to conduct a survey of the
planetary system and beyond until they die.
Pendant stories
Three pendant stories have been published since, two in ''
Asimov's Science Fiction
''Asimov's Science Fiction'' is an American science fiction magazine which publishes science fiction and fantasy named after science fiction author Isaac Asimov. It is currently published by Penny Publications. From January 2017, the publicatio ...
'': "Earth II" and "Earth III"; all later published together as "Landfall: Tales From the Flood/Ark Universe".
"Earth II" is set approximately 400 years after the events in ''Ark'' and deals with the struggles of the descendants of the 15 ''Ark One'' crew members who choose to settle there, rather than continue the journey to Earth III. Since Earth II lacks many of the resources needed to build an advanced society (e.g. oil, coal, uranium, precious metals), its peoples (who have now split into warring nations and
city states) have largely reverted to
pre-industrial
Pre-industrial society refers to social attributes and forums of political and cultural organization that were prevalent before the advent of the Industrial Revolution, which occurred from 1750 to 1850. ''Pre-industrial'' refers to a time before ...
technology, reliant mostly on stone, iron and wood.
"Earth III" is set approximately 1000 years after the events in ''Ark'' and deals with struggles of the ''Ark One'' crew members who choose to settle on Earth III. It is revealed that Helen Gray, Wilson Argent, and Jeb Holden fought and killed each other several years after their shuttle landed, forcing the 37 children who went with them to grow up on their own and develop their own society. Zane's quasi-religious idea of the world as a simulated reality persists; however, there is a growing movement of disbelievers.
A third tale, "Earth I", followed in a collection called ''Universes'' (also published under the title "Landfall"); it is set approximately 10,000 years later and brought characters from several of the now colonised worlds together and revealed the fate of the raft–dwelling survivors on the original, flooded Earth.
Critical reception
''Ark'' received critical acclaim. Writing in ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',
Eric Brown gave the novel a very positive review, concluding that "Never has Baxter presented a more thrilling and moving glimpse of a possible future: ''Ark'' could well be his masterpiece." In ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'',
Lisa Tuttle
Lisa Gracia Tuttle (born September 16, 1952) is an American-born science fiction, fantasy, and horror author. She has published more than a dozen novels, seven short story collections, and several non-fiction titles, including a reference book o ...
also wrote approvingly, calling ''Ark'' "a grim but exciting tale of the ultimate in pioneering adventure, in the most unforgiving environment of all."
[Tuttle, Lisa (5 September 2009),]
Sci-fi / fantasy: New work by Kim Stanley Robinson, Stephen Baxter, Chris Beckett and Alexandra Sokoloff
, The Times (London) Reviews at Strange Horizons were also very positive.
Scientific background
*
George Dyson: ''Project Orion'': Holt: 2002.
*Casoli and Encranz: ''The New Worlds'': Springer-Praxis: 2007.
*Paul Glister: ''Centauri Dreams:'' Copernicus: 2004.
*Extraterrestrial Life and Planetary System Ages: ''Icarus:'' 151: 307–313: 2001.
*
Yoji Kondo
was a Japanese-born American astrophysicist who also wrote science fiction under the pseudonym Eric Kotani. He edited '' Requiem: New Collected Works by Robert A. Heinlein and Tributes to the Grand Master'' (1992), and contributed to '' New Des ...
: ''Interstellar Travel and Multi-Generation Space Ships'': Apogee: 2003.
Warp Drive and Field References:
*
Miguel Alcubierre
Miguel Alcubierre Moya (born March 28, 1964) is a Mexican theoretical physicist.
Alcubierre is known for the proposed Alcubierre drive, a speculative warp drive by which a spacecraft could achieve faster-than-light travel.
Personal life
Alcubie ...
: ''Classical and Quantum Gravity'': Volume 11: L73-L77: 1994.
*C. Clark et al.: ''Classical and Quantum Gravity'': Volume 16: 3965–72 (1999).
*C.Van Broek: ''Classical and Quantum Gravity'': Volume 16: 3973–9 (1999).
*D.Weiskopf: ''Visualisation of Four Dimensional Spacetimes'': Dissertation, University of Tübingen: 2001.
*''Journal of the British Interplanetary Society'': 61:9: September 2008: Seminar on Interstellar Propulsion Systems.
See also
*
Doomsday event
*
Extrasolar planets
An exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside the Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but was not recognized as such. The first confirmation of detection occurred in 1992. A different planet, init ...
*
Flood (Baxter novel)
''Flood'' is a 2008 work of hard science fiction by English author Stephen Baxter. It describes a near future world where deep submarine seismic activity leads to seabed fragmentation, and the opening of deep subterranean reservoirs of water. ...
*
Red dwarfs
*
Faster than light
Faster-than-light (also FTL, superluminal or supercausal) travel and communication are the conjectural propagation of matter or information faster than the speed of light (). The special theory of relativity implies that only particles with zero ...
*
82 Eridani
*
Lepus (constellation)
References
External links
Very detailed plot summary*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ark (Baxter Novel)
2009 British novels
British science fiction novels
Fiction set on Io (moon)
Fiction set on Jupiter
Novels by Stephen Baxter
British post-apocalyptic novels
Hard science fiction
2009 science fiction novels
Novels about genetic engineering
Victor Gollancz Ltd books