Flatlander (story)
Encyclopedia
"Flatlander" is an English language
science fiction
short story written in 1967 by Larry Niven
. It is the third in the series of Known Space
stories featuring crashlander
Beowulf Shaeffer
. The short story was originally published in Worlds of If
, March 1967, and reprinted in Neutron Star, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1968, pp. 129–171 (ISBN 0-345-29665-6), and Crashlander
, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 57–101 (ISBN 0-345-38168-8).
who calls himself Elephant. Irritated at always being labeled a flatlander despite having logged many hours in space, Elephant decides to visit the most unusual system in or near Known Space, and has his agents put in a call to meet with the nearest Outsider
vessel. Elephant, as well as two women named Diana
and Sharrol, show Shaeffer around Earth for a few days; Shaeffer and Sharrol quickly develop a romantic relationship.
Four days after landing on Earth, Elephant and Shaeffer travel to the edge of Known Space in Elephant's ship, the Slower Than Infinity, to meet the Outsiders for information on the location of the most unusual system in Known Space. The Outsiders charge one million "stars" (the interstellar currency) for the whereabouts of the system and Elephant accepts; the Outsiders also offer to explain, for an additional two hundred thousand stars, what exactly makes the star system unusual. Elephant declines when they reveal that he will be able to find this out for himself.
The Outsiders ferry the Slower Than Infinity to the system. The two make a list of particularities apparent about the planet orbiting what Shaeffer dubs the Fast Protosun:
Endangered by the final peculiarity, they only have just enough time to get their helmets on. The remainder of the ship, along with the stowed extension bubble, is still intact. Elephant insists on attempting to land on the planet anyway but Shaeffer convinces him that, unless he can explain why the General Products hull disappeared, they should run for it. Elephant agrees, resentfully, but says that if he were alone he would go down.
With some difficulty, they return to Jinx
. Most of the trip is made in silence as Elephant is not happy about running. Shaeffer gets in contact with a General Products puppeteer, declaring that his GP hull failed. He gives the puppeteer details about their exploration of the fast protosun and the puppeteer agrees to pay the indemnity, noting that they were unaware that such quantities of antimatter were present anywhere in the galaxy. This, the puppeteer explains, is what caused the hull to evaporate.
It is thus revealed to Shaeffer and Elephant that what made the system the most distinctive was its composition antimatter
, which General Products hulls are not resistant to. Elephant finally understands why he's just a "flatlander" – he does not instinctively recognize that the universe is a dangerous place to live.
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
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...
short story written in 1967 by Larry Niven
Larry Niven
Laurence van Cott Niven / ˈlæri ˈnɪvən/ is an American science fiction author. His best-known work is Ringworld , which received Hugo, Locus, Ditmar, and Nebula awards. His work is primarily hard science fiction, using big science concepts and theoretical physics...
. It is the third in the series of Known Space
Known Space
Known Space is the fictional setting of some dozen science fiction novels and several collections of short stories written by author Larry Niven. It has also in part been used as a shared universe in the Man-Kzin Wars spin-off anthologies sub-series....
stories featuring crashlander
Crashlander
Crashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
Beowulf Shaeffer
Beowulf Shaeffer
Beowulf Shaeffer is a fictional character from Larry Niven’s Known Space series. Shaeffer is a crashlander, a native of We Made It, a planet circling the star Procyon...
. The short story was originally published in Worlds of If
If (magazine)
If was an American science fiction magazine launched in March 1952 by Quinn Publications, owned by James L. Quinn. Quinn hired Paul W. Fairman to be the first editor, but early circulation figures were disappointing, and Quinn fired Fairman after only three issues. Quinn then took over the...
, March 1967, and reprinted in Neutron Star, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1968, pp. 129–171 (ISBN 0-345-29665-6), and Crashlander
Crashlander
Crashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp. 57–101 (ISBN 0-345-38168-8).
Synopsis
Traveling to Earth after his trip to the core of the Milky Way Galaxy, Beowulf "Bey" Shaeffer befriends Gregory Pelton, a fabulously wealthy and gregarious flatlanderFlatlander (Niven)
Flatlander is a 1995 collection of stories by Larry Niven, all set in Known Space. It is the definitive collection of all stories by Niven about ARM agent Gil Hamilton....
who calls himself Elephant. Irritated at always being labeled a flatlander despite having logged many hours in space, Elephant decides to visit the most unusual system in or near Known Space, and has his agents put in a call to meet with the nearest Outsider
Outsider (Known Space)
The Outsiders are a fictional alien race in Larry Niven's Known Space series. They are many-limbed beings that are invariably described as a cat o'nine tails with a fattened handle...
vessel. Elephant, as well as two women named Diana
and Sharrol, show Shaeffer around Earth for a few days; Shaeffer and Sharrol quickly develop a romantic relationship.
Four days after landing on Earth, Elephant and Shaeffer travel to the edge of Known Space in Elephant's ship, the Slower Than Infinity, to meet the Outsiders for information on the location of the most unusual system in Known Space. The Outsiders charge one million "stars" (the interstellar currency) for the whereabouts of the system and Elephant accepts; the Outsiders also offer to explain, for an additional two hundred thousand stars, what exactly makes the star system unusual. Elephant declines when they reveal that he will be able to find this out for himself.
The Outsiders ferry the Slower Than Infinity to the system. The two make a list of particularities apparent about the planet orbiting what Shaeffer dubs the Fast Protosun:
- Velocity of the system relative to known space, 0.8c.
- Possible extragalactic origin.
- Only protostar in known space.
- Extremely high radiation levels, which would result in their suit shielding breaking down in 3 days, the extension bubble in 20 hours.
- Very smooth surface of the planet, as if polished.
- The system is relatively clear of meteors
- Protosun too thin for fusionNuclear fusionNuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy...
, yet glowing. - The planet has no lithosphereLithosphereThe lithosphere is the rigid outermost shell of a rocky planet. On Earth, it comprises the crust and the portion of the upper mantle that behaves elastically on time scales of thousands of years or greater.- Earth's lithosphere :...
, it appears to be worn down to the asthenosphereAsthenosphereThe asthenosphere is the highly viscous, mechanically weak and ductilely-deforming region of the upper mantle of the Earth...
which has hardened in the interstellar cold. - An asteroidAsteroidAsteroids are a class of small Solar System bodies in orbit around the Sun. They have also been called planetoids, especially the larger ones...
crater was nearly eroded away from interstellar dust, which should be too thin to work so fast. - There are heliumHeliumHelium is the chemical element with atomic number 2 and an atomic weight of 4.002602, which is represented by the symbol He. It is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas that heads the noble gas group in the periodic table...
II lifeforms present on the planet. - The lifeforms are all on the back side of the planet relative to its course through known space, as if they feared the interstellar dust.
- The so-called "indestructible" General Products hull evaporates while within its vicinity.
Endangered by the final peculiarity, they only have just enough time to get their helmets on. The remainder of the ship, along with the stowed extension bubble, is still intact. Elephant insists on attempting to land on the planet anyway but Shaeffer convinces him that, unless he can explain why the General Products hull disappeared, they should run for it. Elephant agrees, resentfully, but says that if he were alone he would go down.
With some difficulty, they return to Jinx
Jinx (Known Space)
Jinx is a fictional world in Larry Niven's Known Space stories.-Description:The world is a satellite of a gas giant named Binary in the Sirius A system, and is home to a human colony. Jinx is six times more massive than Earth, and very dense, with a surface gravity of about 1.78 times Earth gravity...
. Most of the trip is made in silence as Elephant is not happy about running. Shaeffer gets in contact with a General Products puppeteer, declaring that his GP hull failed. He gives the puppeteer details about their exploration of the fast protosun and the puppeteer agrees to pay the indemnity, noting that they were unaware that such quantities of antimatter were present anywhere in the galaxy. This, the puppeteer explains, is what caused the hull to evaporate.
It is thus revealed to Shaeffer and Elephant that what made the system the most distinctive was its composition antimatter
Antimatter
In particle physics, antimatter is the extension of the concept of the antiparticle to matter, where antimatter is composed of antiparticles in the same way that normal matter is composed of particles...
, which General Products hulls are not resistant to. Elephant finally understands why he's just a "flatlander" – he does not instinctively recognize that the universe is a dangerous place to live.
See also
- "Neutron Star", the first story in the Beowulf ShaefferBeowulf ShaefferBeowulf Shaeffer is a fictional character from Larry Niven’s Known Space series. Shaeffer is a crashlander, a native of We Made It, a planet circling the star Procyon...
series - "At the CoreAt the Core (story)"At the Core" is an English language science fiction short story written in 1966 by Larry Niven. It is the second in the series of Known Space stories featuring crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer...
", the second story in the series - "Grendel", the fourth story in the series
- "The Borderland of SolThe Borderland of Sol (story)The Borderland of Sol is an English language science fiction novelette written in 1975 by Larry Niven. It is the fifth in the Known Space series of stories about crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer....
", the fifth story in the series - "ProcrustesProcrustes (story)"Procrustes" is an English language science fiction short story written in 1994 by Larry Niven. It is the sixth in the series of stories about crashlander Beowulf Shaeffer. The short story was originally published in Crashlander, Larry Niven, New York: Ballantine, 1994, pp...
", the sixth story in the series - "Ghost", the framing story in the collection CrashlanderCrashlanderCrashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
- "Fly-by-Night", the seventh story in the series, written after CrashlanderCrashlanderCrashlander is a fix-up by Larry Niven published in 1994 , set in his Known Space universe. It is also a term used in the Known Space universe-Crashlander :...
- "The Soft WeaponThe Soft Weapon"The Soft Weapon" is a science fiction short story written in 1967 by Larry Niven, set in his Known Space universe. It was the basis of the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode, "The Slaver Weapon"...
" indirectly referenced via first suggested name, "Cue Ball", implying timeline but since retconned to many years after the events of this story. - "Juggler of WorldsJuggler of WorldsJuggler of Worlds is the sequel novel to Fleet of Worlds by Larry Niven and Edward M. Lerner.It is set in the Known Space universe. Most of the book revisits earlier stories...
" provides another, somewhat third-hand viewpoint of the events of this story.