Time for the Stars

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Image:Time For The Stars f.jpegTime for the Stars is a science fiction novel by Robert A. Heinlein published in 1956.

In the novel, the Longrange Foundation is testing twins for telepathic ability, so they can help spaceships communicate over interstellar distances. Near-lightspeed travel is possible. Faster-than-lightspeed travel is not, but telepathy is apparently instantaneous, making it the only way for ships to communicate back to Earth when they arrive at star systems tens of light years away.

A young man with a telepathic bond with his twin signs on as crew, leaving his twin behind on Earth to allow the ship to communicate. Also on the journey is his uncle, a military man. The trip is fraught with problems as trivial as an annoying roommate, and as serious as mutiny.

As the starship travels to several star systems and due to the nature of relativistic travel the twin remaining on earth ages and eventually dies. However the bond with earth is not broken as some of the spacefaring twins prove able to connect with other relatives.

After visiting several star systems the crew are surprised by the appearance of another earth ship. The earth scientists on earth have FTL travel and are collecting the crews of the Long Range Foundation starships. The crew returns to an Earth they no longer recognise, and in some cases no longer really have a use for.

The denouement is questionable, and not one of Heinlein's best. If the crews can be collected in a matter of days, why were they allowed to explore the final system, where they met disaster? It would be the equivalent of allowing clipper ships to do world exploration in a 21st-century world.


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