Eternity Road (novel)
Encyclopedia
Eternity Road, published in 1998
, is a science fiction
novel written by Jack McDevitt
.
".
s that still cover the landscape. In the valley of the Mississippi River
, a number of towns have united again, trade and science have begun anew.
When a copy of Mark Twain
's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
is discovered in the estate of the sole survivor of an earlier expedition to the north, a young woman named Chaka Milana, whose brother died in another expedition years ago, decides to gather a band of explorers and try to find Haven, a legendary town where the knowledge of mankind is said to be collected and kept safe for future generations. A long voyage begins, taking the group, among other places, to the ruins of the ancient city of Chicago
.
After losing several members of their team and travelling with an extraordinary means of transport
that still functions after hundreds of years, the team eventually finds Haven and can save some of the knowledge stored there before the facility is struck by disaster, a disaster that they themselves cause. They then return home.
1998 in literature
The year 1998 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*March 5 - Tennessee Williams' 1938 play, Not About Nightingales, receives its stage première....
, is a science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel written by Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt
Jack McDevitt is an American science fiction author whose novels frequently deal with attempts to make contact with alien races, and with archaeology or xenoarchaeology....
.
Plot introduction
1,000 years after a deadly plague has wiped out the great civilisations of man, the survivors' descendants have built up a new, comparably primitive society. A group of explorers sets out on an expedition to find a legendary haven of knowledge and ancient wisdom, and in the process learn more about the people they only remember as "the RoadmakersUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
".
Plot summary
In a post-Apocalypse America where almost everyone was killed by a plague almost a millennium earlier, little is known about the ancient "Roadmaker" civilization that is said to have built the devastated ruins of enormous cities, and the magnificent roadRoad
A road is a thoroughfare, route, or way on land between two places, which typically has been paved or otherwise improved to allow travel by some conveyance, including a horse, cart, or motor vehicle. Roads consist of one, or sometimes two, roadways each with one or more lanes and also any...
s that still cover the landscape. In the valley of the Mississippi River
Mississippi River
The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...
, a number of towns have united again, trade and science have begun anew.
When a copy of Mark Twain
Mark Twain
Samuel Langhorne Clemens , better known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American author and humorist...
's novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court is an 1889 novel by American humorist and writer Mark Twain. The book was originally titled A Yankee in King Arthur's Court...
is discovered in the estate of the sole survivor of an earlier expedition to the north, a young woman named Chaka Milana, whose brother died in another expedition years ago, decides to gather a band of explorers and try to find Haven, a legendary town where the knowledge of mankind is said to be collected and kept safe for future generations. A long voyage begins, taking the group, among other places, to the ruins of the ancient city of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
.
After losing several members of their team and travelling with an extraordinary means of transport
Maglev
Maglev is a form of rail transport using magnetic levitation.Maglev may also refer to:* Magnetic levitation, a method by which an object is suspended using magnetic fields* MagLev , a virtual machine for the Ruby programming language...
that still functions after hundreds of years, the team eventually finds Haven and can save some of the knowledge stored there before the facility is struck by disaster, a disaster that they themselves cause. They then return home.