Orbitsville (Pan science fiction) [Paperback]

In 1960, scientist Freeman Dyson suggested that advanced alien civilizations would rebuild their solar systems into "Dyson spheres" enclosing the sun and harnessing all its output. SF writers developed the idea: Larry Niven's Ringworld (1970) features a cut-down version while Bob Shaw's Orbitsville (1975) broods on the unimaginable vastness of the entire sphere whose inner surface has five billiontimes Earth's land area.

Shaw kick-starts his story with panicky intensity as starship commander Garamond, knowing he'll be blamed for the accidental death of his powerful(and unpleasant) employer Elizabeth Lindstrom's young son, goes on the run. He hijacks his own ship and heads for unexplored galactic regions... to discover this gigantic construction. There's a striking scene as he penetrates the single entrance's forcefield:

And there--on the edge of a circular lake of stars, suited and armoured to withstand the lethal vacuum of interplanetary space-Garamond had his first look at the green and infinite meadows of Orbitsville.

Before long the vengeful Lindstrom catches up, and a spectacularly pyrotechnic escape leaves Garamond's spaceship wrecked 15 million kilometres away from the human beachhead on Orbitsville. That's a tiny fraction of the 300 million kilometre diameter: the sphere's hugeness is emphasised as our hero's team doggedly builds a fleet of planes to be flown in shifts back to base, a journey that'll take three full years. A final nerve-tingling clash gives way to revelations--jolting but in retrospect inevitable--of Orbitsville's hidden purpose. One of the best novels by this popular British author. --David Langford --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

When the young son of Elizabeth Lindstrom, the autocratic president of Starflight, falls to his death, Vance Garamond, a flickerwing commander, is the obvious target for Elizabeth's grief and anger. Which, since Elizabeth is not a forgiving employer, leaves Garamond little choice but to flee. And fleeing Elizabeth's wrath means leaving the Solar System far behind, for ever, and hiding somewhere in deep space. Pursued remorselessly by Earth's space fleet, the somewhere that Garamond finds is an unimaginably vast, alien-built, spherical structure which could just change the destiny of the human race... --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Bob Shaw was born in Northern Ireland in 1931. He worked as a structural engineer, in industrial public relations and journalism before becoming a full-time writer in 1975. His other memorable novels include Other Days, Other Eyes, The Ragged Astronauts and The Wooden Spaceships. He died in 1996. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.