Skylark (series)

Skylark is a science fiction/space opera series by the late E. E. "Doc" Smith. The first book The Skylark of Space (first published in Amazing Stories in 1928) is revolutionary in the genre, in which a scientist discovers a space-drive, builds a starship, and flies off with three companions to encounter alien civilizations and fight a larger-than-life villain.

The Skylark of Space was the first of a series which continued through 4 books -- Skylark Three and Skylark of Valeron written during the 1930s, and Skylark DuQuesne (DuQuesne is pronounced "Du Kane"), written much later in 1963. R. D. Mullen declared that "The great success of the stories was surely due first of all to the skill with which Smith mixed elements of the spy thriller and the western story (our hero is the fastest gun in space, our villain the second fastest) with those of the traditional cosmic voyage."

Science

The science in the "Skylark" series, while not entirely accurate, is more accurate than in, for example, Flash Gordon. Newton's laws are obeyed, planets circle suns instead of wandering through space, there is a description of something like a black hole or neutron star, and matter-energy conversion is involved in the space drive. It is implied that FTL travel is possible simply because Einstein was wrong - the observation that a spaceship has covered a distance apparently impossible in the time elapsed is met with the response "Einstein's theory is still a theory. That distance is an observed fact"; such effects as time dilation and mass increase are simply ignored. This claim had more potential validity in the 20s, when the story was written, than it does today; after all, many decades of experiments exist to back Einstein's theories up. Much like now-known-incorrect depictions of Venus or Mars in other classic SF, this must be allowed for as a sort of "poetic license" suspension of disbelief.

Summary

The entire series describes the conflicts between the Seaton and Crane partnership, and DuQuesne and his minions, which often break into open warfare. It also includes depictions of progressively increasing scales of conflict between themselves, individually and collectively, and a series of non-human aliens bent on universal conquest. Eventually, being forced to cooperate against an alien species which had conquered one galaxy and was expanding into others, they concluded that the universe was large enough to allow themselves to exist together in peace.

The Skylark of Space

Allies -- The humanoid peoples of the nation of Kondal on the planet Osnome, and particular Crown Prince Dunark.
Enemies -- Dr. DuQuesne; the first of the "disembodied intelligences"; the peoples of the nation of Mardonale on the planet Osnome.
Technology -- The discovery of a mysterious "platinum group" element (suggested to be an ultra-heavy, stable, and non-radioactive transuranic in the story), designated "metal X", which catalyzes the total conversion of matter to energy under the proper stimuli (specified to include an electric current with (in the revised version) simultaneous activation by the radiation field produced by an early particle accelerator); the further discovery that such activated metal can generate a field which is capable of accelerating a ship to faster than light velocities at accelerations (relative to the external universe) on the order of c, inferred to mean 300,000,000 m/s/s or 30 million g, but with forces inside the ship of no more than 10 - 20 g; and that such activated metal can be directed to focus on a single specific mass (such as the Earth) for location and direction. (The power used for maximum acceleration can be estimated from the total conversion of 400 lb of copper in 48 hours using E=mc² as 95 kilotons/second. With an estimated weight of 4,000 tons, the conventional Newtonian acceleration may be estimated as 361 g, hence the propulsive effect itself is clearly not compatible with Newtonian physics in terms of pure propulsive effects) The gift (from the Osnomians) of the process for creating the super-strong, transparent metal arenak. "Attractor" and "Repellor" beams, which may be the first literary appearance of the concept of a tractor beam. The "educator", a device for transferring memories, and other learned information (including languages and skills or specialty expertise) wholesale rather than by conventional teaching methods.
Weapons -- Radiation-free nuclear explosives packagable as handgun bullets based on "metal X." Various beam and plasma weapons developed from Osnomian technology.

Skylark Three

Allies -- The amphibious aquatic humanoid intelligent species of Dasor, and the advanced but ultra-pacifist humanoid scientists of the planet Norlamin, all part of the same multi-sun solar system as Osnome called The Green System. It is suggested that the entire Green System is actually a stable set of orbital pathways for multiple planets passing near multiple close stars in a complex but clearly stable orbital process, the mechanics of which are not clearly defined.
Enemies -- Dr. DuQuesne, who is seeking to duplicate the capabilities of the Skylark and gain control of Earth; the Fenachrone, a semi-humanoid, fascist, and highly xenophobic species bent on the conquest of the galaxy and the destruction of all other advanced life forms.
Technology and Weapons -- An enhancement of the "educator", allowing the forcible removal of memories and skills. The "zone of force," a total stasis field in the ether, defined as "fourth order", akin to modern quarks in their place in the subatomic system; advanced propulsion and weapons technology stolen from the Fenachrone; the refinement of these technologies using the total conversion power capabilities of "metal X" as well as the superscience of Norlamin into a comprehensive, massively integrated set of "fifth order" weapons, power, and a communication projector operating at the "first order below the ether" and capable of faster-than-light but still limited propagation speed. At the end of the novel, the massive ship Skylark Three has 20 times the acceleration potential of the original Skylark, and, via the Fenachrone drive, the issues which limited acceleration due to the impact on the crew has been refined so that the drive operates on the entire ship at once, rendering the interior of the ship is effectively weightless.

Skylark of Valeron

Allies -- The human peoples of Valeron, a planet of a highly distant galaxy.
Enemies -- Dr. DuQuesne, who has succeeded through subterfuge in duplicating not only the capabilities of the Skylark but also of Skylark Three; the surviving Fenachrone; the full colony of "disembodied intelligences"; the inhabitants of a "fourth dimension" that Seaton and crew pass through to escape the intelligences; the chlorine-breathing, amorphous, and rabidly xenophobic Chlorans who are attempting to conquer Valeron.
Technology and Weapons -- Armed with the combined knowledge of the chief physicist and the chief psychologist of Norlamin, Seaton deduces that intelligent thought is a manifestation of "sixth order" forces, faster and potentially more powerful than the fifth-order forces powering the Skylark Three. By the end of the novel, he has refined this into the artificial "Brain" at the center of his 1000-km diameter spaceship, the Skylark of Valeron. The "Brain" is capable of simultaneous thought, computation, and control of all forces from ordinary electromagnetism through gravity up to thought and the other explored bands of the sixth order, and its abilities include the manufacture of the Skylark of Valeron to specification, directly by conversion of ambient energy into matter, in a period of six hours. Valeron includes artificial gravity, the ability to travel intergalactic distances on the order of few months using accelerations of more than 5 times that of Skylark Three (the only benchmark value cited, the intergalactic travel capability noted requires systems with acceleration capability another 500 - 1000 x greater than that; however, this was the acceleration relatively near the end of the Valeron's journey and that the ship may have run significantly faster in the part of the trip that was glossed over); a complete map of the entire universe stored in viewable three-dimensional form, and the necessary controls to direct communications and flight on multi-billion light year scales. Finally, the technology allows Seaton to capture and imprison the intelligences.

In order to be able to map the galaxies of our universe accurately enough to allow the Seaton-Crane party to find their way back to their home galaxy, the Skylark of Valeron needed to be able to aim beams of sixth order force across intergalactic distances with great precision. This necessitated the use of setting circles one thousand kilometers in diameter, with rulings every hundredth of a millimeter. (These circles are modelled after the setting circles used to manually aim a telescope at a desired object in the sky.) As a result, the ship is well over a thousand kilometers across. For comparison, the largest asteroid, Ceres, has a diameter of 950 kilometers.

Skylark DuQuesne

Allies -- The humanoid species of the Llurd empire and those in the Chloran galaxy. DuQuesne and the remaining Fenachrone, who are also threatened by the Chlorans.
Enemies -- DuQuesne, who still attempts to murder Seaton and company prior to their alliance; the logic-driven, monstrous Llurd; the Chlorans (who, it is suggested, exist in multiple places similar to the manner in which various humanoid species exist throughout the galaxies), and occupy similar planets in the universe just as humans find themselves appearing on various earthlike planets.
Technology and Weapons -- DuQuesne builds a ship modelled after the Skylark of Valeron but larger and more heavily armed. After the Valeron is attacked by the Chlorans of galaxy DW-427-LU and reduced to a diameter of 100 km before it can escape, Seaton rebuilds it with heavier armament. The scientist Tammon, one of the Jelmi (humanoid subjects of the Llurd Empire), develops a technology making possible instantaneous matter translation over large but unspecified distances, akin to a space-folding teleportation technique. Seaton later works with Tammon, greatly extending his theory of fourth dimensional physics, and develops a defense against the transference device as well. Both involve fourth-dimensional shortcuts. The transference device is scaled up to battle the Chlorans at the end of the novel, resulting in the destruction of the entire galaxy DW-427-LU, which was in the process of being taken over by the Chlorans. The Llurd situation is settled peacefully by applying logic to appeal to the Llurdan leader/king/dictator.

External links

• The Skylark of Space at Project Gutenberg (Transcribed from Amazing Stories 1928 publication.)
• Skylark Three at Project Gutenberg (Transcribed from Amazing Stories, 1930.)