Poul
Anderson is, and mayhaps always will be, the speculative fiction writer who
most integrates myth and legend into fantasy and science fiction. The former relatively easy given myth and
legend are typically already half fantasy, the latter is the more difficult
given one of the aims of science fiction is believable futuristic extrapolation. Failing spectacularly with The High Crusade (a novel that sees
Medieval knights take a space ship to another planet to fight blue-skinned
aliens), his 1970 Tau Zero is a more
subtle mix. While lacking in fully
humanized characters, it nevertheless captures the ideal of a mythological
journey in hard sf form.
Tau Zero is the story of a group of fifty astronauts on
a mission to a distant star system. The
journey planned to take five years subjective time, thirty-three years actual
time, the group know they are leaving their loved ones behind for good; the
Earth they will return to in sixty-six years will be in differing circumstances. Their ship, the Leonora Christine, the most sophisticated, technologically advanced
space craft ever assembled by humanity, is capable of accelerating the vessel
to near light speed with its massive Brussard ramjet. Blast off going off without a hitch, when the
ship flies through a nebula, however, a wrench is thrown in the works. The gas pedal essentially stuck to the floor,
the astronauts must find a way to remove the figurative wrench as they inch
closer to light speed and further from the reality they are most familiar with.
