Spaceship of Ancestors

Perry Rhodan

by Clark Darlton, Wendayne Ackerman (translator)

Science-Fiction

Genres: Science Fiction

164 pages, Paperback

First published March 22, 1963

About the author

Pen name of German science fiction author Walter Ernsting.

Reviews

[Two Envelopes And A Phone · Rating 4 out of 5]

A vast spherical ship hurtles through space, with a purpose and destination not known to its crew. Life on board is regimented, and striated; if you are designated M-3, you are Mechanic 3. If M-3 calls you Ps-2, then you are Psychologist 2. O-1 - that’s Officer 1 - answers to the Commander. The Commander, like everyone on board, will one day be called on to voluntarily end his life prematurely, by stepping into the Converter; the population must be controlled, adults are called upon to sacrifice themselves before getting to old age, to make way for the young.

This has been going on for many millennia. Robot guards patrol, forcing this way of life and death, where necessary.

Suddenly, a breach in a wall reveals a room with a secret. Absurd questions arise, and the status quo takes on a sinister aura. An ever-growing band of crew members from different departments suspect the cycle is breakable…and should be broken, if pawns are not to forever serve as pawns in some horrible purpose.

This is almost not just any Perry Rhodan action romp from the early days. My reason for seriously considering bumping this one from 3 to 4 stars, with this re-read about 39 years later would be the scene - early on - when the Commander is threatened with death by the mutineers, but his bravery in opposing them comes, ironically, from his knowledge that he is already scheduled for death in the Converter in a few days anyway. That’s life on the spaceship of ancestors.

The shape and description of the ship will suggest to fans of the series where the ship may have come from, and what spacefaring species created it. But such theorizing still does not give a WHY? an answer. The ship’s nature, and the sudden intervention of the teleporting, telepathic, telekinetically-talented mouse-beaver mutant from Vagabond named Pucky (Gucky, in German, but a readers’ contest held before his debut in #11 in the USA editions took care of that problem), both mean this book isn’t quite a stand-alone adventure…but it almost qualifies; it has nothing to do with the story arc it jumps into, and can be grabbed up and read without confusing links to other PR books (pretty much). (Note: Pucky’s appearance is given away on the back of the book - the Ace edition, at least). I liked revisiting it, and I’m not sure if my sniffing out a major twist was mostly due to my memory getting jolted, or just that the twist really is pretty easy to see coming. I did like Pucky’s weird, slightly existential, predictably playful, wrap-up to all the dangerous problems erupting on the spaceship. I would think Perry would kick his ass upon hearing about this aspect of Pucky’s trouble-shooting…but if that happens, I would need more re-reads to remember it, too.

Books like this in the series - where a development occurs that sort of interrupts a main story arc - often create pocket situations that get returned to later on, when the whatever is left hanging gets expanded. In this case, I’m pretty sure the fate of the ancestors gets picked up again in Perry Rhodan #86: Blazing Sun (numbering pertains to translated editions, which differ from German originals because of skipped or combined adventures). Maybe then, Pucky gets his beaver-tail ass kicked…though, Pucky’s telekinesis usually means any ass-kicker gets his ass picked up and tossed across the room, by the power of mouse-beaver mind alone.

An enjoyable bonus feature included in the Ace paperback from 1975 was the obscure short story by Ray Cummings, ‘The Man from 2890’. It’s fast-paced and creepy time-travel stuff by the man who wrote a cool old novel I read not too long ago called The Girl in the Golden Atom.

[Liedzeit Liedzeit · Rating 3 out of 5]

People living in a spaceship for thousands of years. They get killed in their prime. Or so they think. In charge is a commander. Or maybe not. And then there is a rebellion.

An exciting story. And then it is spoilt by the appearance of Pucky. A deus ex machina if ever there was one.

There are some logical weaknesses. So they started their trip to colonize a planet some ten thousand years ago in a ship with a diameter of 1.5 kilometers. Whithout hyperdrive but otherwise identical to the ships Pucky knows from experience. Quite silly.

Maybe we will meet them again.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first PR after 16 years. This one is not part of a cycle but can be read alone. Quick and easy to read it evokes the 60s SF-Feeling. Yes, it was fun.

[Peter · Rating 2 out of 5]

The biggest SF series of all time - these early ones are a bit old style