I just read Stephen Baxter‘s “Last Contact” in Jonathan Strahan’s Year’s Best Science Fiction and Fantasy. Last Contact is an apocalyptic story about what would happen if Dark Energy pulled the universe apart down to the atomic scale (and beyond). The scenario is called “The Big Rip” and was thought might happen in 10 trillion years or so, but Baxter’s premise is that it happens in the next 10 years, which causes the death of every human on Earth.
The story itself is very well written with compelling characters, but didn’t really do that much for me because the plot is linear (by design), and the protagonists passive. It’s merely an execution story on a grand scale, which we get TONS of in the slush at EDF.
The Big Rip, the driving force of Baxter’s tale, has now been proven false, in the same year Baxter wrote his story. How’s that for bad luck?
Universe Today reports:
Previously, it wasn’t known for sure if dark energy was a constant across space, with a strength that never changes with distance or time, or if it is a function of space itself and as space expands dark energy would expand and get stronger. In other words, it wasn’t known if Einstein’s theory of general relativity and his cosmological constant was correct or if the theory would have to be modified for large scales.
But the Chandra study strengthens the evidence that dark energy is the cosmological constant, and is not growing in strength with time, which would cause the Universe to eventually rip itself apart.
That’s why I’m leery about writing near-term science fiction. Sometimes the science just works against you.
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I remember when the Soviet Union collapsed one scholar had just had a big book on the USSR published the same year, in which he talked about how its political system could remain stable for a long time to come . . .
Well, in the end it’s speculative fiction. Near or far future, most of us are going to be way off the mark. I was promised a flying car thanks to Back to the Future and I don’t see it. Boo! I was also promised a Mad-Max apocalypse so I could wear my black leather jacket to work and guess what? Ha! Plus all those spaceships ala Star Trek and Star Wars just seem like fantasy to me, anyway.
That’s true, but ONE YEAR? That’s a pretty short shelf life, doncha think? Flying Cars, and Mad Max, well, they could still happen. I wouldn’t throw out my desert survival gear yet!
True, but we still read and watch a lot of sci-fi that is proven to be ultimately false. If the story is good, it’s good. But maybe that’s just because I like stories to be about people. By design, such stories can more easily withstand the test of time as opposed to stuff that focuses on the gizmos and flying cars.
On a tangent, I do love watching old news reels and old ads from the 50s. The kitchen of the future! The housewife of tomorrow!
And isn’t funny how we have a lot of retro-futuro in movies? People dressed like in the 40s, with hairstyles from the past in movies that are set in the future. Or even contemporary styles, like the Star Trek effect with the mini-skirts in the old series. And now in the new movie they are copying the old costumes, with the retro-colour palette and clothing. Back to the Future acquires a new meaning.
Personally, I think that (although interesting) the method by which he chooses to have the world (the Universe) end is, really, immaterial. The subject matter is intrinsically compelling and having the source be something that occurs in “slow motion,” lends an interesting element to the story.
Interesting, though, the coincidence of timing…the Science Gods striking back?
I liked the writing; Baxter is certainly talented. However, I hate stories where everyone dies at the end. It’s exactly like the “it was all a dream” ending… ie, nothing you’ve just read matters.