Summary
Summary of Starman's Quest
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Time has separated the twins
Alan Donnell approaches Earth aboard the Valhalla on his seventeenth birthday, counting his age by the days he has actually lived. His twin brother Steve stayed behind on the ship's last visit. While Alan experienced six weeks of travel, more than nine years passed on Earth. Steve is now twenty-six.
The Fitzgerald Contraction makes space travel a source of separation as well as discovery. For Alan, coming home means facing a brother whose life has moved far beyond their shared childhood.
Key idea 2
A lost drive offers hope
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Key idea 3
Alan crosses into an unfamiliar world
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Key idea 4
Help arrives with reasons for caution
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Key idea 5
Hawkes makes Earth look tempting
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Key idea 6
Finding Steve changes Alan's direction
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Key idea 7
The apprenticeship becomes a trap
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Key idea 8
Neither world offers a simple answer
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Key idea 9
Relationships give the quest its meaning
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
Readers who like classic space adventure, ideas about time and distance between stars, and coming-of-age stories about brothers, loyalty and a young person chasing a big scientific dream.
What this book is
Starman's Quest is a science fiction novel by Robert Silverberg, written when he was nineteen and still a student at Columbia. It follows Alan Donnell, a seventeen-year-old crewman on the starship Valhalla, in a future where the closer a ship comes to the speed of light, the slower time runs aboard it. A trip of six weeks for the crew is nine years on Earth.
That gap splits families and splits Earth from space. Alan's twin brother has jumped ship, and when the Valhalla lands, Alan is left with two aims. He wants to find his brother, and he wants to find the lost secret of a faster-than-light drive. In this summary you meet the starmen, the crowded Earther city, and the gamblers and schemers Alan meets there. Let us begin with a ship coming home on a birthday.
In this summary
- 1A Birthday on the Way HomeFree
- 2A Restless Boy and a Lost Drive
- 3Across the River into the City
- 4Hostile Streets and a Helpful Stranger
- 5Tracking a Twin Through the Records
- 6The Gambler's Way of Winning
- 7Finding Steve and Taking Him Home
- 8A Gambler's Apprentice and a Dangerous Plan
- 9What the Story Is Really About
Key point 1 of 9
A Birthday on the Way Home
The story opens aboard the starship Valhalla as it nears Earth on the return leg of a trip to Alpha Centauri. Alan Donnell stands at the viewscreen on his seventeenth birthday, studying the green planet where he was born. He counts his age on a small device called a Tally, which marks only the days he has actually lived.
His father, Captain Mark Donnell, teases him that by Earth's calendar he is three hundred years old. Alan insists that his own Tally is the only clock that matters. The joke hides a sore subject. Alan's twin brother Steve jumped ship on the last visit and was left behind.
The cause is the Fitzgerald Contraction, the stretching of time at near light speed. The round trip took six weeks for the crew but more than nine years on Earth. So Alan is still seventeen, while Steve is now twenty-six, and the gap between the two feels too wide to close.
The opening also sets up the shipboard world. Only one hundred seventy-six people live aboard, and Alan knows every one of them. Judy Collier, a girl who follows him around, and his small alien pet Rat, who comes from the planet Bellatrix VII and speaks fluent Terran, show the close and sometimes stifling life on the ship.
That’s 1 of 9 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Why does Alan believe the hyperdrive matters beyond faster travel?
Right. “It would end the Contraction, and with it the split between the starmen and the Earthers.”Not quite. “It would end the Contraction, and with it the split between the starmen and the Earthers.”
What does Alan choose after bringing Steve back to the Valhalla?
Right. “Alan tells his father that Steve is back, but that he himself wants to stay on Earth and search for Cavour's work.”Not quite. “Alan tells his father that Steve is back, but that he himself wants to stay on Earth and search for Cavour's work.”
Why does Hawkes's group want Alan as their getaway driver?
Right. “They need a driver for the getaway truck, and Alan alone has no televector number, so he cannot be traced.”Not quite. “They need a driver for the getaway truck, and Alan alone has no televector number, so he cannot be traced.”
Questions about Starman's Quest
What is Starman's Quest about?
It follows Alan Donnell, a teenage starman, who leaves his ship to find his twin brother on Earth. Because of time stretching at near light speed, his brother has aged nine years, and Alan also hunts for a lost faster-than-light drive.
What is the Fitzgerald Contraction in Starman's Quest?
It is the book's name for the way time slows aboard a ship traveling close to light speed. A trip lasting weeks for the crew takes years on Earth, which separates starmen from the people they leave.
Who is Max Hawkes in the novel?
Hawkes is a skilled professional gambler in York City who helps Alan trace his brother. He takes Alan in and teaches him how to live on Earth, and he has his own plans for the boy.
Is Starman's Quest easy to follow?
Yes, in the sense that it has a clear story, short chapters and an energetic, plain style. Each chapter moves Alan to a new place, so the plot is simple to track.
