Orphans of The Sky - Characters and Story

Characters and Story

At the beginning of the story, the gigantic, cylindrical generation ship Vanguard, originally destined for Proxima Centauri, is cruising pilotless through the interstellar medium as a result of a mutiny that killed all the piloting officers. Over time, the descendants of the surviving loyal crew have forgotten the purpose and nature of their ship and lapsed into a pre-technological culture marked by superstition, wherein the word "Ship" is become a synonym of "cosmos", so that "To move the ship" is considered an oxymoron, and references to the Ship's "voyage" are interpreted as metaphor. They are ruled by an oligarchy of "Officers" and "Scientists", whose head is the putative heir of or successor to the original captain. Most crew members lead a simple illiterate life of agriculture, seldom or never venturing to the "upper decks" where the "muties" (an abbreviation of "mutants" or "mutineers") dwell.

The story centers upon an intelligent and curious young man, Hugh Hoyland, who is early in adulthood selected as an apprentice of the Scientists, who ritualistically perform the technical tasks operating the Ship (such as entering trash into its energy-converter for lighting and environmental control) while ignorant of their true functions. On a mission to hunt muties, Hugh is captured and becomes the slave of Joe-Jim Gregory, the two-headed leader of a powerful mutie gang, who later reveal the Ship's true nature and purpose to Hugh.

Having become convinced of the Ship's true purpose, Hugh convinces Joe-Jim to complete the Vanguard's mission of reaching its intended destination (preserved in fable as "Far Centaurus"), and returns to the lower levels of the Ship to convince others to help him; but is arrested by his former boss Bill Ertz and sentenced to death. While in his cell, Hugh persuades his old friend Alan Mahoney to enlist Joe-Jim's gang in rescuing him; and sometime after having been rescued, reveals the proof of his assertions to Bill and Alan. Bill then goes to convince the captain's aide, Phineas Narby, to join Hugh's effort.

Inspired by one of Joe-Jim's books, The Three Musketeers, the protagonists create swords superior to any weapons present in the lower Ship and overthrow the Captain, later to install Phineas as Captain, Joe-Jim as Vice-Captain, Bill as Chief Engineer, and Hugh himself as astrogator. When Phineas is secure in his position, he launches an attack to rid the Ship of muties once and for all. Joe is killed in the fighting; whereupon Jim sacrifices himself to hold off their pursuers long enough for Hugh, Bill, Alan, and their wives to retreat to a lifeboat left by the Ship's builders, wherein they leave the Ship and land on the inhabitable moon of a gas giant, which they explore and colonize.