Finity's End
Encyclopedia
Finity's End is a science fiction
novel written by the American
science fiction and fantasy
author C. J. Cherryh
. It is one of Cherryh's Merchanter novels
, set in her Alliance-Union universe
, in which humanity has split into three major power blocs: Union, the Merchanter's Alliance and Earth. Finity's End was shortlisted for a Locus Award in 1998.
in the course of their travels. Regardless, the threat of the piratical Mazianni
is ebbing. The Neiharts and their superfreighter Finity's End had spent the post-war years assisting the Alliance militia hunt down the renegades. But now the oldest of all existing merchanter families wants to return to trading.
When the ship docks at Pell Station, the heart of the Alliance, the family retrieves one of its own. Fletcher Neihart's mother had been stranded there by the fortunes of war, giving birth to him on the station. Unable to adjust to stationer life, she had committed suicide when he was five years old, leaving him to suffer through a succession of foster homes. The lonely outsider had been befriended by a couple of hisa, the gentle, intelligent natives of Pell's World
. Now a young man of seventeen with dreams of working on the planet and no wish to take up the family business, he is furious when he is handed over against his will to his relatives as part of a deal between Elene Quen, Stationmaster of Pell, and senior Captain James Robert Neihart.
Finity's End had suffered enormous casualties in the war and afterwards; half the crew died in one catastrophic decompression. Due to this and also because it was impractical to raise children in wartime, the youngest generation consists of only three orphaned "junior-juniors": Jeremy (Fletcher's new roommate), Vince and Linda. Fletcher should have been in the same age group, but due to time dilation, he is four or five years older.
Fletcher is a surly anomaly; he is as old as the more numerous "senior-juniors", but has less shipboard knowledge and experience than the junior-juniors. This is finally resolved by putting him in charge of the three youngsters. Despite a botched, unofficial initiation that results in a fistfight between Fletcher and Chad, a senior-junior cousin, the responsibility (and implied trust) as well as his friendship with Jeremy gradually reconcile him to his new life. Even the initially hostile Vince and Linda look to him for leadership and approval.
It all comes crashing down when Fletcher's spirit stick, a valuable gift from the hisa Satin (from Downbelow Station
), is stolen. Suspicion and distrust grow on both sides. When Chad provokes another fight, Jeremy finally confesses that he was responsible. To safeguard the artifact from resentful relatives, he had hidden it in his hotel room at their last stop, Mariner, only to have it stolen. The merchanter Champlain is one of the suspects.
Meanwhile, Captain Neihart has vastly more important issues to deal with. He is trying to shut down the smugglers and the black market, from which the Mazianni resupply themselves. At every port of call, he forges agreements with merchanters, Union and stationmasters to bring about a transition to peacetime, legitimate trade.
When they find Champlain docked at their next stop, Esperance, Jeremy drags Fletcher to various curio stores, hoping to find the spirit stick. He succeeds, but as the senior captains are locked in vital negotiations, Fletcher is instructed to keep his charges in the sleepover to wait. However, the impatient twelve-year-old Jeremy takes it upon himself to go back to the shop and try to shoplift it, leading to his capture. Fletcher attempts to rescue Jeremy but is caught as well. As they are being led away at gunpoint to be quietly disposed of, Fletcher manages to engineer their escape. The resulting investigation pressures the corrupt, reluctant stationmaster into agreeing with Captain Neihart's proposals. Fletcher wins the approval of his family and he accepts Finity's End as his new home.
, named "Finity's End" a decade before the novel was published. The song was recorded by the filk
musician Leslie Fish
and published together with other songs from Cherryh's universe
on an album with the same name in 1985.
The song was reworked into a story of the history of the free software movement in 2007 and released as "Infinite Hands" under the GPL and other free licenses with permission of Leslie Fish and C. J. Cherryh.
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 the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
science fiction and fantasy
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
author C. J. Cherryh
C. J. Cherryh
Carolyn Janice Cherry , better known by the pen name C. J. Cherryh, is a United States science fiction and fantasy author...
. It is one of Cherryh's Merchanter novels
The Merchanter novels
The Merchanter novels is a term that describes several loosely connected novels by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe...
, set in her Alliance-Union universe
Alliance-Union universe
The Alliance-Union universe is a fictional universe created by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It is the setting for an epic future history series extending from the 21st century out into the far future....
, in which humanity has split into three major power blocs: Union, the Merchanter's Alliance and Earth. Finity's End was shortlisted for a Locus Award in 1998.
Plot summary
It is eighteen years after the end of the Company War, at least as stationers experience time, less for merchanters subject to the effects of time dilationTime dilation
In the theory of relativity, time dilation is an observed difference of elapsed time between two events as measured by observers either moving relative to each other or differently situated from gravitational masses. An accurate clock at rest with respect to one observer may be measured to tick at...
in the course of their travels. Regardless, the threat of the piratical Mazianni
Mazianni
Mazianni is a term used in C. J. Cherryh's science fiction Alliance-Union universe. It refers to the military starships and their crews who remain loyal to their commander, the charismatic, ambitious Conrad Mazian, when he renounces his allegiance to Earth....
is ebbing. The Neiharts and their superfreighter Finity's End had spent the post-war years assisting the Alliance militia hunt down the renegades. But now the oldest of all existing merchanter families wants to return to trading.
When the ship docks at Pell Station, the heart of the Alliance, the family retrieves one of its own. Fletcher Neihart's mother had been stranded there by the fortunes of war, giving birth to him on the station. Unable to adjust to stationer life, she had committed suicide when he was five years old, leaving him to suffer through a succession of foster homes. The lonely outsider had been befriended by a couple of hisa, the gentle, intelligent natives of Pell's World
Downbelow (planet)
Downbelow is a fictional planet in American science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh's Alliance-Union universe. It was the first planet discovered by humans with an advanced ecosystem and, more significantly, intelligent alien life in the form of the Hisa...
. Now a young man of seventeen with dreams of working on the planet and no wish to take up the family business, he is furious when he is handed over against his will to his relatives as part of a deal between Elene Quen, Stationmaster of Pell, and senior Captain James Robert Neihart.
Finity's End had suffered enormous casualties in the war and afterwards; half the crew died in one catastrophic decompression. Due to this and also because it was impractical to raise children in wartime, the youngest generation consists of only three orphaned "junior-juniors": Jeremy (Fletcher's new roommate), Vince and Linda. Fletcher should have been in the same age group, but due to time dilation, he is four or five years older.
It all comes crashing down when Fletcher's spirit stick, a valuable gift from the hisa Satin (from Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station
Downbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.The book is set...
), is stolen. Suspicion and distrust grow on both sides. When Chad provokes another fight, Jeremy finally confesses that he was responsible. To safeguard the artifact from resentful relatives, he had hidden it in his hotel room at their last stop, Mariner, only to have it stolen. The merchanter Champlain is one of the suspects.
Meanwhile, Captain Neihart has vastly more important issues to deal with. He is trying to shut down the smugglers and the black market, from which the Mazianni resupply themselves. At every port of call, he forges agreements with merchanters, Union and stationmasters to bring about a transition to peacetime, legitimate trade.
When they find Champlain docked at their next stop, Esperance, Jeremy drags Fletcher to various curio stores, hoping to find the spirit stick. He succeeds, but as the senior captains are locked in vital negotiations, Fletcher is instructed to keep his charges in the sleepover to wait. However, the impatient twelve-year-old Jeremy takes it upon himself to go back to the shop and try to shoplift it, leading to his capture. Fletcher attempts to rescue Jeremy but is caught as well. As they are being led away at gunpoint to be quietly disposed of, Fletcher manages to engineer their escape. The resulting investigation pressures the corrupt, reluctant stationmaster into agreeing with Captain Neihart's proposals. Fletcher wins the approval of his family and he accepts Finity's End as his new home.
Human
- James Robert Neihart senior – senior captain of Finity's End
- James Robert Neihart junior (known as 'JR', to distinguish him from James Robert senior) – leader of the senior-juniors of Finity's End, later promoted to junior captain
- Jeremy Neihart – junior-junior
- Fletcher Robert Neihart – planetary science student at Pell; reluctant crewmember of Finity's End
Hisa (on Pell)
- Melody – Fletcher's "adoptive" mother
- Patch – Fletcher's "adoptive" father
- Satin – hisa leader (also appears in Downbelow StationDownbelow StationDownbelow Station is a science fiction novel written by C. J. Cherryh and published in 1981 by DAW Books. It won the Hugo Award in 1982, was shortlisted for a Locus Award that same year, and was named by Locus Magazine as one of the top 50 science fiction novels of all time in 1987.The book is set...
)
Misclassification
On her website, Cherryh writes that she has twice seen this novel misclassified by hasty reviewers as a young adult novel, presumably because the protagonists are young. She rejects this label, stating "It's a piece of the Alliance-Union universe, and teens, in the case of teens who've lived 40 time-dilated years, are a fairly different piece of work, psychologically speaking. I definitely call that science fiction---not y/a."The song
C.J. Cherryh also wrote a song about the story of the Merchanter seriesThe Merchanter novels
The Merchanter novels is a term that describes several loosely connected novels by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh set in her Alliance-Union universe...
, named "Finity's End" a decade before the novel was published. The song was recorded by the filk
Filk music
Filk is a musical culture, genre, and community tied to science fiction/fantasy fandom and a type of fan labor. The genre has been active since the early 1950s, and played primarily since the mid-1970s. The term predates 1955.-Definitions:As the Interfilk What Is Filk page demonstrates, there is...
musician Leslie Fish
Leslie Fish
Leslie Fish is a filk musician, author, and anarchist political activist.-Music:Along with The DeHorn Crew, in 1976 she created the first commercial filk recording, Folk Songs for Folk Who Ain't Even Been Yet...
and published together with other songs from Cherryh's universe
Alliance-Union universe
The Alliance-Union universe is a fictional universe created by science fiction and fantasy author C. J. Cherryh. It is the setting for an epic future history series extending from the 21st century out into the far future....
on an album with the same name in 1985.
The song was reworked into a story of the history of the free software movement in 2007 and released as "Infinite Hands" under the GPL and other free licenses with permission of Leslie Fish and C. J. Cherryh.
External links
- Finity's End review. SciFi.com.
- Finity's End review.
- Finity's End at Worlds Without End.