Orphans Of The Sky
(robert Heinlein)
?Orphan of the sky? is an excellent early example of a space opera. It deals with the crew of a long lost multi-generational spaceship as it makes its way among the stars. It has been in flight for so long that the passengers no longer know they are in a spaceship at all. They still fulfill their functions but only as ritual. The bodies of the dead are fed to the recycler for example but no one remembers why, its just tradition. There is some suggestion that the breakdown in communication happened during a revolution generations ago but the history is never made entirely clear.There are also two types of people on board. First there is the crew who live in the bowels of the ship where they are protected from space borne radiation. The others are the ?muties? mutants who have been changed over the generations by exposure to the lowered gravity and increased radiation of the upper decks. Their leader is a bear of a man with two heads.The plot is straight forward as Hugh Hoyland and some of the other crewmen leave the safety of the inner levels for life among the muties. While there they discover the blasphemous secret that they are all living in a spaceship. As the crew comes to battle the muties, Hoyland and several other flee in an escape pod and, against incredible odds, land on a life bearing world. It is a new home for the ?Orhans of the Sky.?The characters and plot development in this story are typical of Heinlein. The men are macho and the women voluptuous. It?s not as sexual as some Heinlein but character development tends to happen in the fists or breasts. For its time however, it is enjoyable and an easy read.
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