This Hugo Award finalist, "justifiably regarded as a classic"
(SFReviews.net), is the tale of an epic space voyage where time dilation
goes horribly wrong.
Aboard the spacecraft Leonora Christine, fifty crewmembers, half men
and half women, have embarked on a journey of discovery like no other to
a planet thirty light-years away. Since their ship is not capable of
traveling faster than light, the crew will be subject to the effects of
time dilation and relativity. They will age five years on board the ship
before reaching their destination, but thirty-three years will pass on
Earth. Experienced scientists and researchers, they have come to terms
with the time conditions of their space travel.
Until . . . the Leonora Christine passes through an uncharted nebula,
which damages the engine, making it impossible to decelerate the ship on
the second half of their trip. To survive, the crewmembers have no
choice but to bypass their destination and continue to accelerate toward
the speed of light. But how will they keep hope alive and maintain order
as they hurtle deeper into space with time passing more and more
rapidly, and their ultimate fate unknown?
With its combination of mind-blowing hard science and compelling human
drama, Tau Zero is "the ultimate hard science novel" (Mike Resnick).
