The Burning Bridge

by Poul Anderson

-------------- Usually there are two "reasons" why something
-------------- is done; the reason why it needs to be done, and,-
---------------quite separate, the reason people want to do it.
------------- The foul-up starts when the reason-for-wanting
-------------- is satisfied ... and the need remains!

excerpt from the introductory:

THE message was an electronic shout, the most powerful and tightly-beamed short-wave transmission which men could generate, directed with all the precision which mathematics and engineering could offer. Nevertheless that pencil must scrawl broadly over the sky, and for a long time, merely hoping to write on its target. For when distances are measured in light-weeks, the smallest errors grow monstrous.

As it happened, the attempt was successful. Communications Officer Anastas Mardikian had assembled his receiver after acceleration ceased-a big thing, surrounding the flagship Ranger like a spiderweb trapping a fly-and had kept it hopefully tuned over a wide band. The radio beam swept through, ghostly faint from dispersion, wave length doubled by Doppler effect, ragged with cosmic noise. An elaborate system of filters and amplifiers could make it no more than barely intelligible.

But that was enough.

Mardikian burst onto the bridge. He was young, and the months had not yet devoured the glory of his first deep-space voyage. "Sir!" he yelled. "A message ... I just played back the recorder ... from Earth!"

Fleet Captain Joshua Coffin started. That movement, in weightlessness, spun him off the deck. He stopped himself with a practiced hand, stiffened, and rapped back: "If you haven't yet learned regulations, a week of solitary confinement may give you a chance to study them."

"I ... but, sir-" The other man retreated. His uniform made a loose rainbow splash across metal and plastic. Coffin alone, of all the fleet's company, held to the black garments of a space service long extinct.

-

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Short Stories

Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Pseudonym A. A. Craig, Michael Karageorge, Winston P. Sanders, P. A. Kingsley.

Poul William Anderson was an American science fiction author who began his career during one of the Golden Ages of the genre and continued to write and remain popular into the 21st century. Anderson also authored several works of fantasy, historical novels, and a prodigious number of short stories. He received numerous awards for his writing, including seven Hugo Awards and three Nebula Awards.

Anderson received a degree in physics from the University of Minnesota in 1948. He married Karen Kruse in 1953. They had one daughter, Astrid, who is married to science fiction author Greg Bear. Anderson was the sixth President of Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, taking office in 1972. He was a member of the Swordsmen and Sorcerers' Guild of America, a loose-knit group of Heroic Fantasy authors founded in the 1960s, some of whose works were anthologized in Lin Carter's Flashing Swords! anthologies. He was a founding member of the Society for Creative Anachronism. Robert A. Heinlein dedicated his 1985 novel The Cat Who Walks Through Walls to Anderson and eight of the other members of the Citizens' Advisory Council on National Space Policy.[2][3]

Poul Anderson died of cancer on July 31, 2001, after a month in the hospital. Several of his novels were published posthumously.


Series:
* Time Patrol
* Psychotechnic League
* Trygve Yamamura
* Harvest of Stars
* King of Ys
* Last Viking
* Hoka
* Future history of the Polesotechnic League
* Flandry

Reviews

[Lyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am continuously impressed with Poul Anderson’s work.

His novella Security described many of the same themes and issues as Heinlein’s Hugo award winning The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and was published a few years before Heinlein’s.

The Burning Bridge, published in 1960, has many of the same themes and issues as Joe Haldeman’s Hugo, Nebula and Locus award winning novel The Forever War published in 1974.

I think that Anderson was tuned into what was important to his genre and what was concurrently important to our society at an early stage, able to craft a provocative short work years ahead of other talented writers.

This is the story of a generational ship (as described in Heinlein’s Orphans of the Sky) and the colonists aboard who are seeking a new beginning. An intellectual adventure, almost a chamber play in space, this is a fine work of science fiction from one the genre’s greatest authors.

[Ralph McEwen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Downloaded from librivox.com as mp3.

[Hassan Mallah · Rating 4 out of 5]

A story of a spaceship to a new world leaving old earth behinde it. But the ship might go back home after a vote among the passengers.
Nice story and ideas

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

Entertaining listening 🎶🔰

Another will written fantasy Sci-Fi space opera adventure thriller short story by Poul William Anderson about three thousand plus individuals on their way to colonize a planet when they are ordered too return to earth 🌎. But the man 🚹 in charge makes the decision to continue on. I would recommend this novella to readers of space fantasy novels 👍🔰. Enjoy the adventure of reading all kinds of novels and books 📚. 2022 👒😤⌚🗽

[Phil Giunta · Rating 3 out of 5]

Captain Joshua Coffin leads a fleet of colony ships headed for the planet Rustum. Most of the passengers are outcasts from Earth—targets of political, economic, or social discrimination. However, nearly halfway into their journey, the fleet receives a message from Earth welcoming them back home. After debating the issue among the civilian leaders, Coffin must make a choice.

[Patrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short with an interesting dilemma. The downside is that it is short and only has one interesting dilemma. Also, it's depiction of women is dated.

[Gr1972 · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 out of 5

[Mad Russian the Traveller · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short story (really, in between a short story and a novella in length) is a tightly paced account of the journey of a fleet of colony ships traveling from Earth to another star system with a habitable planet roughly twenty light-years distant. This has all the elements of the type of science fiction that I loved most in my youth. In this story, the heroic captain and admiral of a fleet of Libertarian Separatist colonists is a believing New England Christian but is haunted by the profound psychological strain of alienation from his own home on Earth by time and the vast distances of space. In a very short time the author gets inside the head of this main character as events of the story unfold. As the story progresses, you get scientific explanation of how the spacecrafts traverse the vast distance of the journey traveling at half the speed of light. Most of the crew and passengers are in cryo-sleep except for a fractional "awake" crew to monitor everything. After some time into the voyage from Earth, at the limit of signal attenuation, they receive a message from Earth that the Educational Mandate (requiring all citizens to be indoctrinated in government schools) is rescinded for the "Constitutionalists" and other laws may be relaxed and that the colonists may return to Earth. There is little time to debate the issue and the captain must decide the course of action, and his choice requires him to do something wrong which now alienates him further as he may be required to no longer be involved in space travel (all of his life that he has left is his existence as an astronaut). The end was poignant, but requires experience of the entire story to get the intensity. Here is a quote from the end of the story:

"You aren't alone, Joshua, she wanted to call. Every one of us is beside you. Time is the bridge that always burns behind us."

Anderson, Poul William (2010). The Burning Bridge (Illustrated Version) (p. 42). Unknown. Kindle Edition.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story originally published in Astounding, now available from Gutenberg et. al.

I couldn't relate to any of the characters except possibly the female lead. Didn't work for me at all really, although the plot premise was interesting.

[Blaze · Rating 4 out of 5]

A well-written story about moral dilemmas and having to make a choice. The backdrop is a fleet of spaceships on a long journey towards colonizing a distant planet. The story is mostly dialogue but I found it very engaging and it most certainly made an impact.

[Robert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick read. Good story. Weak character development. More of a short story than a complete novel.

[Melodee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good second book to a series. I enjoyed getting to know more of the characters and to see their growth. Ended with a good cliff hanger to make you want to move on to the next book.

[Tome Addiction · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short story by a great author. I find his stuff is hit or miss for me.

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

excellent short story

Sometimes it really feels good to go back to the old masters for high quality entertainment. A little overwrought in places but generally a good read.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this story. The morals and religious undertones reminded me of some of my favorite Arthur C. Clark books.... Very good story. Would like to read more of Poul Anderson's work.

[Keith · Rating 3 out of 5]

A short story written by Poul Anderson about 1960. The leaders on a group of space ships need to decide if they should return to Earth or colonize a new planet.