FORGOTTEN BOOK: THE BALLAD OF BETA-2

The Ballad of Beta-2 by Samuel R. Delany (first published as an Ace SF Double, bound with Alpha Yes, Terra No! by Emile Petaja, 1965; issued separately several times by various publishers; also released as an Ace SF Double, bound with Delany's Empire Star, 1975; included in Delany's omnibus A.B.C.:  Three Short Novels, 2015)

The Sixties were a high point in science fiction.  It would not be far off the mark to say that this was the rea when the genre grew up.  (It should also be noted that science fiction had been undergoing a beneficial process of maturation before the Sixties, perhaps even before the John W. Campbell/Astounding era had begun in 1938; a fictional category dedicated to change inevitably had change hardwired into its DNA.)  SF in the Sixties reflect the world of the Sixties, a world where the past was not enough, a world where new ideas, new dreams, and new approaches beckoned.  For the science fiction fan, it introduced authors such as Roger Zelazny, Ursula K. LeGuin. and Thomas M. Disch.  Writers like J. G. Ballard, Brian W. Aldiss, Kurt Vonnegut, Harlan Ellison, and Robert Silverberg came into their own.  An era that started with Starship Troopers, Stranger in a Strange Land, and Dune, and just kept getting better.  A time of the New Wave (which wasn't very new, but SF fans did not know that). 

And one of the most exciting new authors of the Sixties was Samuel R. Delaney, who came bursting onto the scene with novels such as The Jewels of Aptor, Babel-17, The Einstein Intersection, Nova, and the Fall of the Towers trilogy (Captives of the Flame, The Towers of Toron, and City of a Thousand Suns), and such stories as "Empire Star," "The Star Pit," "Driftglass," "Aye, and Gomorrah...," "Lines of Power," "High Weir," and "Time Considered as a Helix of Semi-precious Stones."  Literate stories that used old trope to portray something new, blending science, philosophy, and linguistics

The Ballad of Beta-2 was Delany's second published book, a short novel that he had begun in 1982, writing three-fourths of it in four days, at the same time he was beginning his Fall of the Towers Trilogy

Joneny T'waboga is a student of Galactic Anthropology who has been unwillingly assigned a thesis subject concerning an ancient ballad of the "Star Folk," a song recorded only once and dismissed by scholars as insignificant and derivative.  The Star Folk were descendants of passengers of generation star ships, each a city in itself traveling as less than light speed to reach their destination after centuries of travel.  Sixty years after the star ships began their trek, faster than light travel was achieved and, but the time they reached their destination, space had been conquered.  Only ten of the twelve ships arrived with passengers; two arrived arrived destroyed.  No one knew what had happened to them.  Those who did arrive, though, were suspicious and hostile to those already there, attacking any who tried to approach their ships.  A decision was made to let them be.  The ships were placed in an isolated orbits and its occupants were allowed to live as they wished.  Few tried to visit the ships and those who did usually regretted it.

The to ships that did not survive were the Sigma-9, which had a hole blasted in its side, and the Beta-2, which was nowhere to be seen.  Centuries before, a researcher approached the Sigma-9, but did not dare to enter it himself, sending a robot instead.  The robot brought back hints that the occupants committed mass suicide, as well as recorded records from the ship.  One of these was "The Ballad of Beta-2," which appeared to rely heavily on old-Earth concepts such as "cities" and "desert," and appeared wrapped in old-Earth allegory, making it easy to be dismissed by what few scholars looked at it.   The Star Folk themselves were considered to be a backwater, obsolete group not worthy of study.  So Joneny was visibly upset when his advisor told him to look into the source and the antecedents of the song.  He decided a quick trip out to Sigma-9, a fast look-around, and perhaps an interview with one or two Star Folk (if he could get them to agree) was all that was needed for the assignment.

Something was strangely off.  Joneny used a time stasis to view the approach into the ship.  The ship was covered in a shimmering green fire --but viewed in time stasis it was impossible for the ship to shimmer.  He entered the ship and found some old records that indicated that all of the generation ships had developed a phobia against change.  Each ship had developed a standard for a norm for its people.  Minor physical variations, however normal on Earth, were viewed as dangerous on the star ships.  Witch hunts and pogroms and slaughter of the "deviants" -- a Third Reich, McCarthy, MAGA madness has taken over.  (Yeah, I added the MAGA reference.  So sue me.)

Joneny also came across a strange humanoid, resembling a thirteen- or fourteen-year-old boy, whose legs worked as arms, who could survive in naked space, and who could appear and disappear at will.  The boy seemed helpful but answered Joneny's questions cryptically.  Strange things apparently happened to the generation ships while they were traveling in interstellar space.  The boy said his name was "The Children of the Destroyer."  Then others -- many others -- appeared, identical to the boy.  He said that they were him also.  The boy said his father (but not father) -- the Destroyer --  talked to him abut Joneny.  And the father/not father/Destroyer was the shimmering green fire...

This is a surprisingly hopeful novel, an interesting exploration of linguistics, prejudice, theology, ethno-culturalism, and -- within its bounds -- strict logic.  Just one reason why Delany knocked our socks off in the Sxities.