Robert H Wilson's "Out Around Rigel" (novelette, free): An adventure with relativity implications
Story summary.
There are actually multiple stories here, but woven into a single one:- When man becomes capable of flying to another world, where does he go out first? You might think moon would be a logical choice. But Lunarians don't think like us! Here two Lunarian friends, one of them a super-inventor, have their maiden space fight's target as the Rigel system some 500 lightyears away!
- A love triangle - two men & a woman. Both men love the woman; she loves only one of them. One of the men thinks the issue should be settled with a duel. Where would the two go out to duel? A somewhat open place nearby? Wrong. Geniuses don't think like normal people!!
- Third main thread is about the implications of traveling at relativistic speeds - implications from people's point of view.
See also.
- Hal Clement's "Uncommon Sense": A variant of "duel" in a somewhat similar environment, but a much better thought out story.
Fact sheet.
First published: Astounding Stories, December 1931.Download full text from Project Gutenberg. [via Butch Malahide @rasfw]
Rating: B.
4 comments:
Since his 1931 short story remains of interest to several readers, perhaps a few words are appropriate about the identity of Robert Henry Wilson. He was born on 5 April 1909 and died on 15 January 1998. He received a BA in 1928 and an MA in 1930 from Stanford University, and a medieval-literature PhD in 1932 from the University of Chicago. A scholar specializing in Thomas Malory's MORTE D’ARTHUR, he rejoined the English Department at the University of Texas (Austin) in 1947, where he taught until his retirement in 1978. As a professor in that department, I knew him since 1969; and he inscribed and autographed for me the first page of his reprinted story in my copy of Damon Knight’s SCIENCE FICTION OF THE 30S.
Thank you, Bill.
Total agreement on the logical flaws in Garth's actions (incidentally, it is mostly Garth's fault that everything bad happens: he is the one who selected Rigel as the target and who chooses to fight a duel to the death with his best friend in an insanely dangerous situation). Dunal's main mistake is going along with Garth's bad ideas.
I have a review of the story up on Fantastic Worlds at http://fantasticworlds-jordan179.blogspot.com/2012/07/retro-review-out-around-rigel-1931-by.html
Total agreement on the logical flaws in Garth's actions (incidentally, it is mostly Garth's fault that everything bad happens: he is the one who selected Rigel as the target and who chooses to fight a duel to the death with his best friend in an insanely dangerous situation). Dunal's main mistake is going along with Garth's bad ideas.
I have a review of the story up on Fantastic Worlds
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