# Time-Dilation in Science Fiction stories? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 24, 2010, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236 "2010-01-24T16:06:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/81 "2010-03-08T18:55:16Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Are there any stories that use gravitationally-caused effects? In Robert L. Forward’s [_Dragon’s Egg_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg) and [_Starquake,_](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starquake_(book)) the cheela, neutronium-based beings who live on the surface of a neutron star, live so fast that their civilizations rise and fall under the eyes of the (non-generational) crew of humans in orbit around their star. ---
**Author:** ![Saltire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saltire/32/553_2.png) [@Saltire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saltire)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/82 "2010-03-08T18:57:29Z")
Is the one **BlinkingDuck** describes in post #44 _Manifold: Time_ by Steven Baxter? That whole series bent my mind so much that I can’t remember the plot very clearly. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/83 "2010-03-08T18:59:41Z")
> [@](#): > > In Robert L. Forward’s Dragon’s Egg and Starquake, the cheela, neutronium-based beings who live on the surface of a neutron star, live so fast that their civilizations rise and fall under the eyes of the (non-generational) crew of humans in orbit around their star. True, but it’s not due to gravitation-based time dilation effects – it’s because the nuclear reactions that take the place of chemical reactions in their “chemistry” are much faster than our chemical reactions. The mechanisms that form their internal clocks and govern the rate of change in their world are simply faster than ours. Unless you want to argue that the reason such effects seem faster to us is simply because of gravitational-based time dilation effects. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/84 "2010-03-08T19:13:09Z")
Roger Zelazny used time-dilation effects a couple times to set up a character who’s far outlived the times he’s used to - in _Eye of Cat_, I think, and the short story “The Moment of the Storm”. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/85 "2010-03-08T21:44:17Z")
> [@Saltire](#): > > Is the one **BlinkingDuck** describes in post #44 _Manifold: Time_ by Steven Baxter? That whole series bent my mind so much that I can’t remember the plot very clearly. That’s it! ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2010, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/86 "2010-03-08T22:51:11Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > _Time For The Stars_ - Robert Heinlein First one I thought of. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/87 "2010-03-09T01:10:31Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > Are there any stories that use gravitationally-caused effects? _Crystalspheres_ by David Brin involved civilizations hiding in a black hole to massively slow down their own experience of time. The plot was, it turned out that life bearing stars are all surrounded by the invisible “crystalspheres” of the title; they don’t allow entrance, and can only be broken from the inside. Pretty obviously the artifact of somebody who didn’t want the first advanced species that evolved to colonize all other life out of existence. At any rate, the humans find several other stars with broken crystalspheres, abandoned life bearing formerly hi-tech worlds, and a message. They are free to colonize those worlds as they like; when they tire of being the lone advanced species they can come to the black hole where all the previous high tech species are waiting in slow time. And sometime hundreds of millions of years in the future when many, many more of the crystalspheres have been shattered, they all intend to leave the black hole ( having experienced far less time inside it ) and set up the kind of interstellar multispecies civilization the old science fiction stories talked about, without anyone having to be the tired, jaded Elder Race that’s been around for millions of years longer than everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2010, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/88 "2010-03-09T14:23:00Z")
[Voices of a Distant Star](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voices_of_a_Distant_Star) is about boyfriend and girlfriend who get separated by up to 8 light years as she gets sent as part of a space fleet to Sirius. A major theme is the increasing time for their email messages to get through, until the last message takes over 8 years. ---
**Author:** ![Kurisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a88e4f/32.png) [@Kurisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kurisu)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/89 "2010-10-11T02:19:53Z")
Arnold, I “think” the book you mentioned was written by L. Ron Hubbard. I got it from my local library under the title “To The Stars”. Here is the Wiki page. > **[To the Stars (novel)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/To_the_Stars_%28novel%29)** > > To the Stars is a science fiction novel by American writer L. Ron Hubbard. The novel's story is set in a dystopian future, and chronicles the experiences of protagonist Alan Corday aboard a starship called the Hound of Heaven as he copes with the travails of time dilation from traveling at near light speed. Corday is kidnapped by the ship's captain and forced to become a member of their crew, and when he next returns to Earth his fiancee has aged and barely remembers him. He becomes accustomed to... Earlier, though, it was titled “Return To Tomorrow”, and I think it had a much better cover. [http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/l-ron-hubbard/return-to-tomorrow.htm](http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/h/l-ron-hubbard/return-to-tomorrow.htm) Like you, I had read the book but had forgotten the title. I was inputting the plot and searching the net for the title when I came across this forum. Your much better recollection of the plot allowed me to find the title of the book. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/90 "2010-10-11T03:29:01Z")
While we’re at it, since this thread was last active, I did some calculations on Queen’s “In the Year of '39”, and if they’re getting that effect from time dilation, on the trip as described in the song, they had to have been pulling around 800 gees. I think it’s simpler to assume lower gees, a closer destination star, and some sort of suspended animation that leaves them “older but a year”, rather than time dilation. ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/91 "2010-10-11T04:08:26Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Damn…can’t remember the title. > > The story centered around a guy that volunteered to enter an alien civilizations ‘stargate’…these gates were located at the outer edge of the solar system. When you entered it you appeared at the other gate light years away. However, while it was instant to you, it was like you traveled the distance at light speed. > > He said goodbye, put some money in the bank and left. When he came back, much time had passed and he wasn’t rich because Congress had passed a law in his absence enforcing no interest for people like him. He didn’t know anyone and was out of date…So, he went out again and again. > > Each time he came back, things were changed. I remember once was an ice age, and people evolving into a form different from him and so on. He felt more and more disconnected every time he came back. > > It was awhile ago and my memory is fuzzy…but I think this is the kind of book desired by the OP. I actually read a short story (in an anthology) very similar to the one you describe, except the protagonist had invented and perfected a form of suspended animation, and woke himself up every 10,000 years or so for a couple of weeks to look around and see what was happening on Earth. I thought relativity figured into several of Niven’s Man-Kzin Wars stories; the one that comes readily to mind is _The Children’s Hour_. And another about a cowardly Kzin named Eater-of-Grass (title escapes me). ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/92 "2010-10-11T06:20:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > While we’re at it, since this thread was last active, I did some calculations on Queen’s “In the Year of '39”, and if they’re getting that effect from time dilation, on the trip as described in the song, they had to have been pulling around 800 gees. I think it’s simpler to assume lower gees, a closer destination star, and some sort of suspended animation that leaves them “older but a year”, rather than time dilation. I’ve never heard the song, but what’s wrong with an 800 gee acceleration? Plenty of sci-fi ships are capable of that or more, as long as they have artificial gravity. The current Schlock Mercenary ship _Touch and Go_ is apparently capable of roughly 5000 gees, IIRC… ---
**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:** [October 11, 2010, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/93 "2010-10-11T12:13:08Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > I actually read a short story (in an anthology) very similar to the one you describe, except the protagonist had invented and perfected a form of suspended animation, and woke himself up every 10,000 years or so for a couple of weeks to look around and see what was happening on Earth. Possibly “The Peddler’s Apprentice” by Joan and Vernor Vinge? ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/94 "2010-10-11T20:46:27Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > > [@ExTank](#): > > > > I actually read a short story (in an anthology) very similar to the one you describe, except the protagonist had invented and perfected a form of suspended animation, and woke himself up every 10,000 years or so for a couple of weeks to look around and see what was happening on Earth. > > Possibly “The Peddler’s Apprentice” by Joan and Vernor Vinge? I should’ve mentioned I read this in 1985; I’m doing good to remember the basic outline of the story (or the fact that I read it), much less the name of the anthology, or even the name of the story. If you say “Peddler’s Apprentice,” I’d say sure, that name sounds as likely as any other…😃 ---
**Author:** ![chorpler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chorpler/32/2888_2.png) [@chorpler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chorpler)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/95 "2010-10-11T21:29:54Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > > [@ExTank](#): > > > > I actually read a short story (in an anthology) very similar to the one you describe, except the protagonist had invented and perfected a form of suspended animation, and woke himself up every 10,000 years or so for a couple of weeks to look around and see what was happening on Earth. > > Possibly “The Peddler’s Apprentice” by Joan and Vernor Vinge? Heck, it sounds like the entire basis for class divisions in Orson Scott Card’s **Capitol** , later updated to **The Worthing Saga** , where the drug somec puts people into perfect suspended animation, so the rich and powerful sleep through the decades and end up living insanely long lives, but only when measured against the poor common folk whose labors and technological advancements they get to take advantage of. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/96 "2010-10-11T21:30:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I’ve never heard the song, but what’s wrong with an 800 gee acceleration? Plenty of sci-fi ships are capable of that or more, as long as they have artificial gravity. The current Schlock Mercenary ship Touch and Go is apparently capable of roughly 5000 gees, IIRC… Artificial gravity is indistinguishable from magic, and I get the impression that May intended the song to be hard SF. And even if artificial gravity is possible, it’s completely up in the air what effect it might have on time dilation. I won’t say it’s absolutely impossible, but I feel quite comfortable in saying that suspended animation is simpler. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/97 "2010-10-11T21:52:29Z")
Didn’t the Kevin Sorbo Andromeda series hinge on the main character’s ship getting too close to a black hole, experiencing time dilation, then coming back out in what seemed like an instant to him, but for the galaxy several hundreds of years had passed? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2010, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/98 "2010-10-11T22:23:09Z")
How about [The Time Traveller’s Wife](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0452694/combined)? ---
**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:** [October 12, 2010, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/99 "2010-10-12T00:58:35Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > > [@Andy\_L](#): > > > > Possibly “The Peddler’s Apprentice” by Joan and Vernor Vinge? > > I should’ve mentioned I read this in 1985; I’m doing good to remember the basic outline of the story (or the fact that I read it), much less the name of the anthology, or even the name of the story. > > If you say “Peddler’s Apprentice,” I’d say sure, that name sounds as likely as any other…😃 Fair enough - just can’t resist trying… ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2010, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236/100 "2010-10-12T01:21:52Z")
> [@TBG](#): > > Didn’t the Kevin Sorbo Andromeda series hinge on the main character’s ship getting too close to a black hole, experiencing time dilation, then coming back out in what seemed like an instant to him, but for the galaxy several hundreds of years had passed? Indeed it did. Something else I forget way back when I asked that question, mostly because I think I only ever watched about two episodes of Andromeda. And I did know that about Planet of the Apes, as I read an English translation before I ever saw the movie. I just don’t particularly think it matters that it’s a relativistic trip to and from Betelgeuse that makes the protagonist run into apes on both planets. I don’t remember them being mentioned, but all of the shared-universe Man-Kzinti Wars collection take place before the Outsiders sell the hyperdrive to the humans on We Made It. While not all of the stories deal with the problems of a sub-light speed war and logistics, several do. A bit of a hijack, but how are the rest of the novels in Haldeman’s Forever series? The library has them, but I’ve been reluctant to check them out as I’ve assumed that it’s just Haldeman trying to cash in on his most famous work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/time-dilation-in-science-fiction-stories/526236.md?page=6)