Non-Stop

Brian Aldiss

1958

As Mankind's first Generation Ship returned from a successful mission to the stars, it's crew feel a little empty and the great ship even emptier after the colonists had disembarked. But by and large they were looking forward to making a start on the Long Journey back to Earth.

Generations later, Roy Complain is a hunter in the Greene tribe where he spends his life searching the ponics jungle for meat to feed the tribe. Although he finds it difficult to restrain his curiosity he's fairly content with his lot until his woman is stolen by a neighbouring tribe. Sentenced to a week of scourging his bitterness is fuelled by the village priest who has found a map of the world.

Along with a small group of colleagues, the pair brave the unexplored tangles of the Ponics in their search to find out what the world is.

On the way to his destiny, Roy meets the mythical Giants face to face and the truth behind the terrifying Outsiders is revealed. But its the rats who get the worst press.

Forwards is a tribe he had never even thought of existing. Not for them the squalor of the Ponics, but the gleaming metal of the decks; not for them the midge infested air, but there was little they could do about the heat!

Once he had been accepted by the Forwards tribe, Roy is sent on a mission to see why the ferocious raiders threatening Forwards were suddenly pleading for alliance. This leads to a family reunion and the finding of the history of their world.

All is revealed. Or is it?

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This is part of the Science Fiction Masterworks series.

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