The year of the silent sun

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The year of quiet Sun (Original The Year of the Quiet Sun is a) science fiction -novel the American writer Wilson Tucker in 1970. It deals with the use of time travel to the identification of future social and political events.

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The story begins on June 7, 1978. Brian Chaney, a demographer and biblical scholar, is on vacation in Florida after translating and publishing two Qumran scrolls into English. A young woman, Kathryn van Hise, approaches him, introduces herself as the head of a research department in the Office for Standardization and offers him a position as a futurologist in a new, top-secret program. Chaney shows no interest and refuses; however, the office has taken over his previous employment contract, so he has to accept. He is supposed to examine the future with a time-shifting vehicle (ZVF) in practice and is given the address of a laboratory.

On June 12th, Chaney arrives at the National Research Station south of Joliet, Illinois. With him, two other men take part in this project: Corvette Captain Arthur Saltus, officer in the US Navy, and Major William Moresby, officer in the US Air Force. So far the time machine has only been tested with mice and monkeys. The three men are led into the laboratory and the pantry, where clothes, tools, cameras, tape recorders, weapons, food and much more are stored. Your job is to film in the future and to record your observations on tape. Right now there is war in Southeast Asia; a city south of Saigon was destroyed by a Chinese nuclear missile , whereupon the USA wiped out two railway junctions in China with hydrogen bombs.

Chaney talks to Saltus about the first scroll that is an original of the Book of Revelation and a hundred years older than it; Chaney calls the script a midrash , religious fiction. The project leader Gilbert Seabrooke has chosen the second scroll as the next subject. It is a prophecy , the story of a man who was two men and drove dragons from heaven. It describes the last days of the world and gives hints of a blinding light, a cooling climate, worldwide wars and epidemics, struggles for food, trade stall and interregnum . For Brian this is only a midrash and has nothing to do with her mission; However, Seabrooke is convinced of it.

That afternoon everyone meets at the swimming pool and learns that the ZVF is operational. Chaney and Saltus are now both in love with Kathryn, but Brian does not manage to outdo the competitor. Arthur flirts intensely with the young woman without Brian having the courage to do the same.

The ZVF is an aluminum cylinder and floats in a concrete pool with polywater . The responsible engineers take care of the outward journey, while the time travelers themselves can make the return journey by pushing a crossbar forward with their feet. The device is operated by its own nuclear reactor , which should provide energy for at least 500 years; the laboratory is built earthquake-proof. Each of the three makes a short journey through time for practice. It is important not to stay in the target area for more than 50 hours and it is strictly forbidden to look for the residents of the station. Brian has to learn to shoot and practice taking pictures with a holographic camera . President Meeks' decision is to go to Joliet two years into the future on November 6, 1980, because he wants to know if he will be re-elected.

Moresby, Saltus and Chaney start half an hour apart. Brian is the first to arrive at 7.55 a.m., but the clock should have shown 10.03 a.m., an unexpected deviation. The premises must be left unarmed, as a new federal law prohibits the possession of weapons except for the police and the military. There are three cars in the parking lot. Brian leaves the station in one of the vehicles, has to show his ID and is made aware of the curfew in Joliet from 6 p.m. Because of ongoing racial unrest between whites and blacks, a wall was built across the city in Chicago. In Joliet he visits the city library; many police patrol cars are in front of and in the city. He goes through the congressional session reports and the Department of Commerce yearbook, and notes important things in his notebook. The construction of the wall, he learns, began on July 29, 1980 due to street fighting; it's a 20-kilometer barrier that divides the city into zones for whites and blacks. President Meeks was re-elected. Chaney is stared at with suspicion or hostility by many. He drives back to the station and meets Saltus in the shelter, who is taking photos of newspapers: China has attacked and occupied Formosa ; Canada supports the invasion and wants to exchange Chinese gold for Canadian wheat. Arthur tells him in confidence that he found his marriage to Kathryn in the marriage register. All of America is under martial law. The Joint Chiefs of Staff had attempted a coup , but it was foiled. Chaney realizes this was possible because the time travelers briefed the government and Meeks could prepare.

There is a victory party that evening. President Meeks thanks everyone involved. Arthur and Kathryn dance, Chaney stays away.

The next day they learn that the next goals are each a year apart. William chooses July 4th, 1999, Arthur his 50th birthday on November 23rd, 2000. Brian doesn't care when. Kathryn assures that she will wait for the three time travelers in the conference room.

Moresby travels first and realizes that the ladder to the ZVF is missing; there is a thin layer of dust everywhere. The clock shows six hours difference from the start time. Can water tastes stale and apparently hasn't been replaced this year. New are three yellow boxes with bulletproof vests. On the radio on a military channel, Moresby hears gunfire and signs of an attack on the station. He learns that the attackers have two grenade launchers and that Lake Michigan is radioactive. "Jets" directed a nuclear missile into Chicago, but it fell into the lake. Tienpei in China was located as the launch pad. Apparently the "jets" requested them. Moresby arms and goes out. He hears gunfire and finds some corpses, all of which have a yellow band on their left upper arm: "Jets". They are obviously black guerrillas . A jet with a grenade launcher stands behind tree stumps; Moresby shoots him but is fatally hit himself.

Arthur Saltus arrives on November 23, 2000. Some fluorescent tubes are burned out, a thick layer of dust has accumulated. The stocks have been partially looted and there is a lack of food, clothing and shoes. Saltus puts on the bulletproof vest and plays the Moresby tape. He notices that the Chinese have finally taken revenge for their two destroyed cities. Moresby obviously never came back to the station. Saltus records his observations on tape. He puts it in the ZVF and angrily kicks the door to the laboratory - it opens, but nobody is there. There is an electric car in the parking lot . With it he drives to the site; the apartment building burned down and there are a few dead bodies in the swimming pool. The fence has big holes. He discovers the wreck of a truck and a demolished grenade launcher. Arthur is convinced that William perished here, even if he can no longer find any trace of him. He drives to the guard building, from which a black man shoots from behind the car and hits him. Saltus shoots back, a second jet hits him in the back. With the last of his strength, Arthus can kill him in a duel, but passes out. When he wakes up, he lies under the corpse, struggles to free himself and drives back to the laboratory building. Due to the bullet in his back, he suffers from impaired consciousness and slowly crawls to the ZVF. He imagines that someone is helping him into the vehicle. After a few tries, he throws the tape recorder at the crossbar and can come back.

Some day after 2000, Brian Chaney arrives in complete darkness; it's freezing cold. Finally, he can light a lantern in the storage room. He sees that the supplies have dwindled further, there are many empty boxes standing around. Eight and a half years after Arthur's arrival, the nuclear reactor had been destroyed, and the calendar shows the date: March 4, 2009. Brian puts on the bulletproof vest and takes a rifle and cartridges with him. His job is to just look around the station. It's cool outside, the sun is shining, and there are no planes in the sky. There is a primitively built two-wheeled cart in the parking lot. A mound of clay turns out to be a cistern with a wooden lid, next to it a bucket and rope - it is a copy of a Nabatean cistern. In the past he had lent Saltus an illustrated book about the buildings of the Nabataeans . Brian comes across a grave next to it. The gate of the station is closed and secured, three skulls serve as a warning. The swimming pool is filled with dirty rainwater, skeletons and litter. The fence is an intact barrier secured with a lot of barbed wire and also equipped with skulls. Chaney photographs everything to later show Seabrooke.

Suddenly he hears loud children's laughter and discovers a man, a woman and a child of about three years. Chaney climbs up the fence and shouts loudly. The family reacted with horror and fled; their fears are focused on the station and on himself: he is seen as the devil. Brian loads groceries, medicines and tools onto the cart, opens a hole in the fence, pushes the cart onto the embankment, empties it, and walks back to the grave. Suddenly he hears a voice: "Please ... Mr. Chaney?" He sees two young people, Arthur and Kathryn's children, both full of fear and curiosity. "My father said you would come. You were the last of the three travelers." Now Brian knows that Arthur is in this grave. His son tells him that his mother will be waiting in the meeting room as promised. Here Brian meets Kathryn, who is now an old woman. The energy supply has collapsed for so long that it doesn't know what year it is. Her children are scared, she says, because they haven't seen anyone since the station was stormed. "Everyone is afraid of you. I'm the only one here who is not afraid of a black man." This makes it clear that Brian is not white.

Kathryn now talks about the past years. Initially there was still some contact with survivors, Seabrooke was dismissed without notice, and the insurgent generals were shot in public. Moresby had seen the United States fall into decline. In retaliation, the Chinese had also destroyed the Australian city of Darwin with nuclear weapons. The president declared war on China and many nations were soon involved. As a result, Meeks got it all wrong, suspended the constitution and allowed himself to be re-elected indefinitely. He was the last president and was eventually murdered. Civilization regressed, television stopped, the mail stopped coming. Arthur, Kathryn and their children could only survive on the supplies in the station. Everywhere else people starved and died of disease. The jet revolution was rapidly spiraling out of control; they also burned down their own livelihoods in over-zeal. The United States had little police or military defense because most of them had been sent to war zones. The Soviet Union fought against China; Kathryn doesn't know what happened to Europe.

Brian, who still thinks he can return, asks Kathryn to go downstairs with him to the ZVF and asks her what he said. She replies that he didn't say anything because he was lost in time. At first he doesn't believe it, but since there is no electricity, the vehicle is useless. Desperately he tries again and again, but nothing happens. When he climbs out of the ZVF, Kathryn has already left.

Outside, the sky is clear and the stars are twinkling. Chaney now realizes that the "man who was two men" is himself. On the moon, he detects a pulsating laser that comes from an accident with two astronauts. The old prophet did not foresee this.

reception

Publications (selection)

  • Wilson Tucker: The Year of the Quiet Sun , Ace Books London 1970, ISBN 0-441-94201-6 (first edition), cover Diane and Leo Dillon
  • Wilson Tucker: The year of the quiet sun , Goldmann Verlag Munich 1972, ISBN 3-442-30257-9 , translation by Wulf Bergner, cover Eyke Volkmer
  • Wilson Tucker: The year of the quiet sun , Goldmann SCIENCE FICTION SF 0197, Presse-Druck Augsburg 1975, ISBN 3-442-23197-3 , cover F. Jürgen Rogner

The novel has been translated into four languages: German, Italian, Spanish, French.

See also

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