Cover art for the Benford and Niven novel “Bowl of Heaven”
I just finished reading the 2012 novel Bowl of Heaven authored by two science fiction heavy hitters: Gregory Benford and Larry Niven.
The basic idea is that a colony sleeper ship from Earth on its way to a new system encounters a megastructure in space. This is a sun that has been manipulated so its light thrust is directed allowing the entire solar system to be navigated across the galaxy.
At the back end of the system is essentially a bowl with the surface area of millions of Earths.
It’s more than curiosity that causes the command crew of the starship “SunSeeker” to investigate. Their ramscoop technology has become increasingly inefficient threatening the success of their voyage, so they enter the bowl system looking for answers.
They send a shuttle into the bowl and the landing team, lead by lovers Cliff and Beth, encounters a number of differing beings that seem intelligent. However, when Cliff’s party breaches the airlock, the aliens try to capture them. Beth’s team is scooped up immediately, but Cliff’s people escape.
As you’d expect from “hard science” writers Benford and Niven, details about the “shipstar” system and “bowl world” abound. Parallels to Niven’s “Ringworld” are inevitable.
poweredbyrobots.com 