''Fossil'' is a

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

book by American writer Hal Clement, as part of the Isaac's Universe series. It was first printed in November 1993. Copyright was reserved to him under his real name, ''Harry C. Stubbs'', and the company he associated himself with, Tomorrow, Inc.

Plot summary

On a medium-sized, low-gravity planet with a very slow rotational period, the side that is farthest from the sun is always a very hard mixture of frozen carbon dioxide, rock hard ammonia, and solid water ice, and the side that is closest, a sea of turbulent liquids and icebergs. The planet rotates so slowly that the part that is half ice and half

ocean The ocean (also the sea or the world ocean) is the body of salt water that covers approximately 70.8% of the surface of Earth and contains 97% of Earth's water. An ocean can also refer to any of the large bodies of water into which the wo ...

is constantly beset with troubling weather conditions, ranging from blizzards to unanticipated ice melts and earthquakes. It takes centuries if not thousands of years for the wobbling of the planet on the ecliptic to melt certain parts of the planet. Even still, it is possible for the planet to have become locked in orbit, so the farthest side never melts. The tidal locking of the planet may have occurred hundreds of millions of years ago, and seasons appear to be limited to the slight wobbling of the planet on the ecliptic. Far from being an uninteresting planet, the ecliptic along which the planet travels is also tilted. Most of the colonies are located along the "coast" - the place in a murky half-shadow of constant night and constant day. Scientific researchers from all kinds of alien species from all over the known universe have come to this planet to engage in an arduous

archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

expedition to unearth mysterious fossils from deep within the multi-kilometer thick icy crust. They have dug so deep that it is generally considered dangerous to dig any deeper. On some of the worlds around the

galaxy A galaxy is a system of stars, stellar remnants, interstellar gas, dust, dark matter, bound together by gravity. The word is derived from the Greek ' (), literally 'milky', a reference to the Milky Way galaxy that contains the Solar System. ...

, mysterious relics are found from an earlier civilization that no longer exists. Since the planet has almost no rock at its core, and enjoyed a rotational period for the first couple billion years of its existence, there is probably nothing to find here, short of

fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved in ...

of earlier species once flourishing on the planet, but now extinct.

References

{{Hal Clement 1993 American novels 1993 science fiction novels DAW Books books Fiction set on ocean planets Ice planets in fiction

Plot summary

See also

References