Godspeed

Sheffield, known for both rigorous hard science fiction ( Cold as Ice ) and pulpy space opera ( Transcendence ) combines the two in this space adventure with a background of speculative science and the plot and characters of a Flash Gordon serial. On the isolated planet of Erin, young Jay Hara has grown up on dreams of space and legends of the fabled Godspeed drive, which once allowed humans to travel at translight speeds. After meeting Paddy Enderton, a seedy old spacer, Jay is drawn into a chase which carries him off the planet, into the asteroid belt and its tiny worldlets, and finally to the remnants of an ancient space station where the Godspeed drive may still exist. Along the way, Jay is at once awed and terrified of the piratical spacers who crew the ship, particularly the smooth-talking, ruthless captain, Daniel Shaker. Struggling to reconcile his admiration for Shaker with the man's evident viciousness, Jay eventually comes into his own as a spacer and an adult. With this voyage of development, Sheffield raises his undemanding story above its otherwise rather hackneyed science fiction elements. (Nov.)