The Songs of Distant Earth

The song of the distant earth is the German title of the published 1986 science fiction novel The Songs of Distant Earth by Arthur C. Clarke, based on a short story by the author, which was published in the magazine If 1958.

Content

The plot is built around a meeting of two different groups of people walking around in the distant future, which takes place on an ocean planet with the name Thalassa after a major crisis on Earth.

In contrast to Clarke's other works, this novel focuses more on the presentation of the characters and their emotional development, as changes in technology. In a sense it was written in response to criticisms, in which his stories were attacked as cold and impersonal.

In the novel, the human race had responded to an inescapable threat to the dispatching of robotic colony ships to ensure the continued existence of life on Earth after the destruction of their homeworld by the sun become a supernova. Thalassa is colonized in 3109 by such a ship, but soon it breaks the contact with Earth, since a volcanic eruption destroyed the antenna for interstellar communication. One based on vacuum energy technology invented, which allowed the construction of a spaceship that can reach almost the speed of light - Meanwhile, on Earth - just before the impending supernova. The Magellan breaks to start the last colony of mankind. While previous ships of the colonization was carried out using embryos or various forms of DNA synthesis, a crew is transported from one million living individuals who are kept in a cryonic hibernation from Magellan.

On the way to his destination ( the planet Sagan 2 ) defines the Magellan a pre-planned stop in the orbit of the planet Thalassa one. There, the worn ice sheet of the ship is to be renewed, which was mined on a journey through interstellar matter. A small part of the crew is awakened from cryogenic sleep to perform the repairs to the shield. Since the residents of Thalassa did not set up the interstellar antenna again, they do not know until the ship actually arrives from the imminent arrival of Magellan in the orbit of the planet. The novel explores the effect of the subsequent, unexpected reunion, documented the repair efforts of the crew of the Magellan and sets in detail the possibility of love over the barriers of time and space apart.

Scientific aspects

The novel deals with a possible result of the solar neutrino problem, which was still unresolved when Clarke wrote the book.

Although not fully reversible with current technology, cryopreservation methods are reality today. They constitute a medical procedure applicable to human patients, as the patient may be kept unchanged until the second half of the process ( the revival ) has also become a reality.

Tests in 2005 have shown that it is possible to put mice in a short-term hibernation.

Vacuum energy is a controversial discussed aspect of modern physics, and the concept has been repeatedly misused for pseudo-scientific theories. In the acknowledgments of the book Clarke vacuum pulling power than a scientifically conceivable, but very futuristic energy source considered.

On the logistics interstellar travel at the speed of light is also dealt with in detail in the novel, but with some mistakes that were made ​​in favor of the construction of dramatic tension in purchasing. Also noteworthy is the use of a space elevator. In the introduction to Clarke, it was his desire to write, represent a realistic interstellar travel, without engaging fantastic to use technologies such as a warp drive.

Influences on other media

The multi-instrumentalist and composer Mike Oldfield was moved after reading the novel so of him, that he wrote an entire album, which is based on it. Around the same time, Oldfield also dealt with the possibilities offered by computer games. Therefore, the articles distributed in the UK version of the CD album The Songs of Distant Earth by a CD -ROM is included, with which you can explore some of the more notable places of the book in an interactive game - including the " Hibernaculum " of Magellan. In the game and the video clip for the decoupled single from the album Let There Be Light is included. The design of the album draws on stills from the CD- ROM.

Until 2005, the following forms of work have arisen or have been inspired by this:

• The original short story that was published in The Other Side of the Sky 1958.
• A little known concept for a film, which was released in 1979. (Omni Magazine, vol III no 12 )
• The novel of 1986.
• The music album The Songs of Distant Earth by Mike Oldfield.
• A CD -ROM computer game ( part of the displaced in the UK edition of the album ).
• The music video for Let There Be Light.
• The song Haruka naru Furusato no Uta (遙 か なる 地球(ふるさと)の 歌) by Minami Kuribayashi, which was used as the closing credits of the final chapter of Unlimited Video Game Muv -Luv.