''Hawksbill Station'' 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 ...

novel by American writer

Robert Silverberg Robert Silverberg (born January 15, 1935) is an American author and editor, best known for writing science fiction. He is a multiple winner of both Hugo and Nebula Awards, a member of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Hall of Fame, and a Grand ...

. The novel is an expanded version of a short story first published in ''

Galaxy Science Fiction ''Galaxy Science Fiction'' was an American digest-size science fiction magazine, published in Boston from 1950 to 1980. It was founded by a French-Italian company, World Editions, which was looking to break into the American market. World Editi ...

'' in August 1967. The novel was published in 1968 and was released in the United Kingdom under the title ''The Anvil of Time''.

Synopsis

Hawksbill Station was a

penal colony A penal colony or exile colony is a settlement used to exile prisoners and separate them from the general population by placing them in a remote location, often an island or distant colonial territory. Although the term can be used to refer to ...

in the

Cambrian The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized C with bar, Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million ...

Period created by an authoritarian United States government, using

time travel Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a w ...

to exile rebels and political dissidents into the past. The colony houses only male exiles, who are sent there as a "humane" alternative to execution. The machine only works one way, leaving prisoners marooned in the past. The prison is set in a barren coastal area. The novel focuses on the relationships between the main character, the ''de facto'' leader of the colony, and his nemesis in the government, Jacob “Jack” Bernstein, both of whom were leading dissidents. It also explores the petty ideological differences among the prisoners and the confused circumstances leading to the establishment of the authoritarian government. The prisoners, all middle-aged or elderly, are surprised by the arrival of a much younger prisoner. The newcomer, supposedly an economist, is questioned about economic theory and political ideology. His answers reveal his essential ignorance of both. This ignorance, combined with his youth, cause the prisoners to wonder if he is, in fact, a political prisoner or a common criminal, exiled for a heinous crime. When the newcomer arrives via the time machine a second time, it is revealed that he is a police officer of a new government that overthrew the authoritarian government but was unrelated to the dissident movements of the exiles. The new government discovered the existence of Hawksbill Station and a way to travel from past to future, making it possible to retrieve prisoners from the colony. The newcomer has been sent to evaluate the prisoners and to recommend whether they are appropriate for retrieval. With return now possible, the leader of the exiles realizes that he is a time traveler of a different sort. The struggle against the authoritarian government, his life's work, is over. His closest friends in the movement, as well as his most bitter enemies, are dead. He is tempted to visit the newcomer's future, but Hawksbill Station is now the only existence he knows.

Reception

Algis Budrys Algirdas Jonas "Algis" Budrys (January 9, 1931 – June 9, 2008) was a Lithuanian-American science fiction author, editor, and critic. He was also known under the pen names Frank Mason, Alger Rome (in collaboration with Jerome Bixby), John ...

said that ''Hawksbill Station'' was Silverberg's best story. ''Hawksbill Station'' was credited by Jeff Vogel, a small indie game developer, as having influenced the design for his game ''Exile: Escape from the Pit'', saying that while most of the game's plotlines were his, this classic short story helped shape his ideas.

References

Sources

* Peter Nicholls. ''

The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction ''The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction'' (SFE) is an English language reference work on science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and f ...

''. London: Roxby Press Limited, 1979. . * Clute, John with Peter Nicholls. ''

''. New York: St Martin's Griffin, 1993 (2nd edition 1995). .

External links

* * {{Works of Robert Silverberg Short stories by Robert Silverberg American science fiction novels Novels about time travel Novels by Robert Silverberg 1967 short stories 1968 American novels 1968 science fiction novels Works originally published in Galaxy Science Fiction Doubleday (publisher) books