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The Skylark of Space is one of the earliest novels of interstellar travel. First published in 1928, it was written about 1918 by chemical engineer Edward Elmer Smith (E.E. "Doc" Smith), together with his neighbor, Lee Harkins Garby. The Skylark of Space is often categorized as the first literary Space Opera (in the complimentary sense), complete with protagonists perfect in mind, body, and spirit, who fight with villains of absolute evil. The "Skylark" series has been in publication, on and off, for decades and has become somewhat of a cult classic.
For more details of the publication history of the story and series, see the author's page.
The novel begins with a description of the accidental discovery of a mechanism for interstellar flight in a Government Laboratory in Washington, D. C. To quote the discussion of it on the author's page:
"The beginning of the story, The Skylark of Space, describes in relative detail the protagonist's research into separation of platinum group residues, subsequent experiments involving electrolysis and the discovery of a process evocative of cold fusion (over fifty years before Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann). He describes a nuclear process yielding large amounts of energy and producing only negligible radioactive waste - which then goes on to form the basis of the adventures in the Skylark books. Smith's general description of the process of discovery is highly evocative of Röntgen's descriptions of his discovery of the X-ray."
This process is proven to be capable of directly powering a space drive; later discoveries reveal that the process operates by generation of and manipulation of gravity fields, suggesting that the drive is an early fictional development of the space warp concept.
Finding that his government laboratory coworkers do not believe him, Dr. Richard Seaton acquires rights to his discovery from the government and commercializes it with the aid of his friend, millionaire inventor Martin Crane. A former colleague, Dr. Marc DuQuesne, joins with the unscrupulous World Steel Corporation to try to steal it. The resulting personalized conflict causes difficulty for both the characters and ultimately the entire world as Seaton and Duquesne discover more new alien societies and develop new and more complex technical capabilities.
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, written much later in 1963. The entire series describes the conflicts between the Seaton and Crane, 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 science in the "Skylark" series is fairly accurate compared to other attempts at science fiction of the same era. Newton's laws are obeyed, solar system structure is correct, a black hole (or neutron star) is described, and matter-energy conversion is involved in the space drive. As is done in most science fictions involving interstellar space travel--even modern ones--time dilation is disproven or modified in order to allow the plot to work. When compared to Flash Gordon of the same era, it is understandable that some prefer not to describe "Skylark" as a space opera.
To briefly summarize the sweep of the series:
The Skylark of Space:
Allies -- The 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, designated "metal X", which catalyzes the total conversion of matter to energy under the proper stimuli (specified to include an electric current with 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's, 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=mc^2 as 95 kilotons/second. With an estimated weight of 4,000 tons, the conventional newtonian acceleration may be estimated as 361 g's, which is clearly not compatible with contemporary physics.) The gift (from the Osnomians) of the process for converting regular metal into the super-strong, transparent arenak.
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 dolphin-like intelligent species of Dasor, and the advanced but pacificistic scientists of the planet Norlamin, all part of the same multi-sun solar system of Osnome.
Enemies -- Dr. DuQuesne, who is seeking to duplicate the capabilities of the Skylark; the Fenachrone, a humanoid species bent on the conquest of the galaxy and the destruction of all other life forms.
Technology and Weapons -- The "zone of force," a stasis field in the ether; advanced propulsion and weapons technology stolen from the Fenechrone; the refinement of these technologies using the total conversion power capabilities of "metal X" into a comprehensive, massively integrated "fifth order" weapons, power, and 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 the factor which limited the impact of the acceleration on the crew has been refined so that 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 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 diamter 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, it should be noted that 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.
Skylark DuQuesne
Allies -- The human species of the Llurd empire and 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 demonic Llurd; the Chlorans.
Technology and Weapons -- One of the Llurd humans develops a technology making possible instantaneous matter transferrance over intergalactic distances. This is scaled up to battle the Chloran at the end of the novel. The Llurd situation is settled peacefully.
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