# Another "What was this science fiction story called" thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093 "2013-06-28T04:42:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/1 "2013-06-28T04:42:17Z")
This one has been bothering me for a while now, and I hope I’ve remembered enough about the story and it isn’t so obscure that no one can identify it: I remember reading a science fiction short story, probably in an anthology, sometime between about 1985 and 1990 about a spaceship on some extended mission. The main things I remember is that at some point, the spaceship somehow travels outside of the universe (or possibly just the galaxy) and in doing so the ship and everything on board somehow becomes gigantic, at least temporarily, for some reason that I either don’t remember or wasn’t explained in the story. I remember a paragraph describing how the crew had to put cold compresses or bandages on burns they received while gigantic due to collisions with the tiny galaxies (or possibly just stars) that somehow passed through the hull of the ship and burnt them, presumably causing numerous small blisters. The story kind of reminds me of Poul Anderson’s _Tau Zero_, which I read many years later. I hope someone remembers this one! ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2013, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/2 "2013-06-28T11:41:26Z")
It reminds me somewhat of **Rudy Rucker** ’s _Spacetime Donuts_ from 1981. 2/3rds of it was serialised in UnEarth sf magazine, iirc, but it’s definitely a novel, not a short story. In it they become infinitely big and ‘go round the scale’ as it were and reappear as infinitely small, but growing larger. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/3 "2013-06-29T00:09:43Z")
I believe something similar happens in Bob Shaws _Ship of Strangers_ though with none of the blistering or burns. ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/4 "2013-06-29T00:40:07Z")
I’ve been trying to ID a similar story for years, novella length I think. They don’t get bigger but time compression allows them to last till the end of the universe. (And I know that mine isn’t Tau Zero, either.) ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/5 "2013-06-29T09:26:00Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I’ve been trying to ID a similar story for years, novella length I think. They don’t get bigger but time compression allows them to last till the end of the universe. (And I know that mine isn’t Tau Zero, either.) That sounds like a Larry Niven story. I don’t have my books handy but I think it was either “Bordered in Black” or “One Face”. The spaceship ended up far in the future, when the earth was dying. Don’t know about the OP. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/6 "2013-06-29T13:19:49Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I’ve been trying to ID a similar story for years, novella length I think. They don’t get bigger but time compression allows them to last till the end of the universe. (And I know that mine isn’t Tau Zero, either.) > **[The World at the End of Time](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_World_at_the_End_of_Time)** > > World at the End of Time is a 1990 hard science fiction novel by American writer Frederik Pohl. It tells the parallel stories of a human and a plasma-based intelligence who manage to survive to the time near the heat death of the universe. The book is thus a combined work in speculative cosmology and space colonization. > World at the End of Time follows the story of a young Earth-born human, Viktor Sorricaine, on a colony expedition to a distant star system. The colonists are frozen for the long ... ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/7 "2013-06-29T17:19:31Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > That sounds like a Larry Niven story. I don’t have my books handy but I think it was either “Bordered in Black” or “One Face”. The spaceship ended up far in the future, when the earth was dying. > > Don’t know about the OP. “One Face” - “Bordered in Black” is about an early FTL mission - but there’s no time travel. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/8 "2013-06-29T17:20:58Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > This one has been bothering me for a while now, and I hope I’ve remembered enough about the story and it isn’t so obscure that no one can identify it: > > I remember reading a science fiction short story, probably in an anthology, sometime between about 1985 and 1990 about a spaceship on some extended mission. > > The main things I remember is that at some point, the spaceship somehow travels outside of the universe (or possibly just the galaxy) and in doing so the ship and everything on board somehow becomes gigantic, at least temporarily, for some reason that I either don’t remember or wasn’t explained in the story. I remember a paragraph describing how the crew had to put cold compresses or bandages on burns they received while gigantic due to collisions with the tiny galaxies (or possibly just stars) that somehow passed through the hull of the ship and burnt them, presumably causing numerous small blisters. The story kind of reminds me of Poul Anderson’s _Tau Zero_, which I read many years later. > > I hope someone remembers this one! This sounds a bit like a Van Vogt plot; I’ll let you know if I figure it out. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/9 "2013-06-29T17:33:32Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I’ve been trying to ID a similar story for years, novella length I think. They don’t get bigger but time compression allows them to last till the end of the universe. (And I know that mine isn’t Tau Zero, either.) If the one you’re looking for isn’t Niven’s “One Face” (see description, here [Inconstant Moon - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inconstant_Moon) - “During a routine hyperspace jump, an accident involving a small meteoroid striking into the machinery causes the ship to be trapped in a stasis until billions of years have passed”), then it might be Sheffield’s “Between the Strokes of Night” [Between the Strokes of Night - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Between_the_Strokes_of_Night) ---
**Author:** ![E-DUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/e-dub/32/403_2.png) [@E-DUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-DUB)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/10 "2013-06-30T03:47:15Z")
That Scheffield might be it. The only problem is that none of the other elements sound familiar.😕 I have read a fair amount of Scheffield though and maybe that novel was expanded from a shorter version. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2013, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/11 "2013-06-30T04:10:45Z")
This is possible; I’ve read a lot of van Vogt stories. I haven’t had a chance to check the other leads yet, but appreciate them and will investigate soon. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Ecks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bcef8e/32.png) [@Johnny\_Ecks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Ecks)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/12 "2013-07-01T13:14:51Z")
In Harry Harrison’s “Bill the Galactic Hero” they used the Bloater drive- the ship grew huge and diffuse, and when the ship encompassed it’s destination, they shrank it again, centered there. When engaged, the crew sees their planet drift through the bulkhead. Probably not the story you are looking for, but the same idea. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/13 "2013-07-01T18:42:06Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > That Scheffield might be it. The only problem is that none of the other elements sound familiar.😕 > > I have read a fair amount of Scheffield though and maybe that novel was expanded from a shorter version. I have pretty much every Sheffield available from Baen in ebook form, and just ran through Between the Strokes of Night and granted I skimmed the chapters pretty quickly but I am pretty sure this isn’t it. Though it does sound sort of like a Sheffield piece. I can start reading through them after I finish with my current book if you like. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/14 "2013-07-01T19:58:40Z")
> [@E-DUB](#): > > I’ve been trying to ID a similar story for years, novella length I think. They don’t get bigger but time compression allows them to last till the end of the universe. (And I know that mine isn’t Tau Zero, either.) There’s a Ben Bova short story called _Stars, Won’t You Hide Me?_ where an Earth pilot flies away (being chased by opponents) and through time compression makes it to the end of the universe. It’s pretty short though. ---
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/15 "2013-07-01T21:48:38Z")
Time compression will do that :): ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/16 "2013-07-01T23:22:35Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > I have pretty much every Sheffield available from Baen in ebook form, and just ran through Between the Strokes of Night and granted I skimmed the chapters pretty quickly but I am pretty sure this isn’t it. > > Though it does sound sort of like a Sheffield piece. I can start reading through them after I finish with my current book if you like. Sheffield had another story about going to the end of time called “Tomorrow and Tomorrow” [Tomorrow and Tomorrow (novel) - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomorrow_and_Tomorrow_%28novel%29); it was expanded from a novella called “At The Eschaton” ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2013, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/another-what-was-this-science-fiction-story-called-thread/662093/17 "2013-07-02T00:35:40Z")
The OP’s story sounds vaguely like “Flaw” by John D MacDonald. Some of the details are off, though. Here’s a [summary](http://doomsdayer.wordpress.com/2012/07/10/macdonald-john-d-flaw-1949/) of the story, if it helps.