Nightflyers is a novella written by George R.R. Martin. Released in 1981, it tells of nine academics being trapped on a malevolent ship.
Characters[]
- Karoly d'Branin
- Melantha Jhirl
- Royd Eris
- Agatha Marij-Black
- Thale
- Dannel
- Lindran
- Rojan Christopher
Publisher's summary[]
Nine misfit academics on an expedition to find the volcryn, a mythic race of intersteller nomads, and the only ship available for this strange quest is the Nightflyer, a cybernetic wonder with a never-seen captain...
Nine innocents are about to find themselves in deep space, trapped with an insane murderer who can go anywhere, do anything, and intends to kill them all.
Full summary[]
A nine-member team of Academy scholars from the planet Avalon led by the astrophysicist Karoly d'Branin are searching for the volcryn, an enigmatic alien species with an advanced interstellar travel technology. The main protagonist is Melantha Jhirl, a dark-skinned genetically engineered human who is a head taller than the other scholars. Due to limited funds, d'Branin has hired the services of the Nightflyer, a modified trader owned by captain Royd Eris. The enigmatic Royd keeps to his own sphere of the ship, preferring to correspond with the passengers via hologram. Royd secretly spies on the passengers using computer monitors.
Over the next five weeks, the passengers speculate about the secretive nature of their mysterious captain. The team's telepath Thale Lasamer senses there is something dangerous aboard the Nightflyer. The team's psipsych Agatha Marij-Black drugs Thale with the drug psionine-4 to keep him calm. Things start to take a turn for the worse after the xenotech Alys Northwind accidentally cuts her finger with a kitchen knife. As tensions among the passengers escalate due to the ship's cramped and claustrophobic quarters, captain Royd tells the crew that he is the cross-sex clone of his late trader mother and has lived his entire life in zero gravity space.
Not trusting Royd, Agatha gives Thale a drug called esperon and tells him to read Royd's mind. However, a mysterious force causes Thale's head to explode. Agatha goes into shock. Despite growing unrest among the crew, d'Branin still proceeds with the voyage due to his determination to find the volcryn. Later that night, the cyberneticist Lommie Thorne and Alys attempt to hack into the ship's computer systems in an attempt to investigate captain Royd. A mysterious force opens the airlock, killing the two scholars and causing significant damage to the Nightflyer.
Despite their mutual distrust, the scholars agree to help Royd make repairs to the ship's damaged structure. The xenobiologist Rojan Christopher attempts to cut his way into captain Royd's quarters with a portable cutting laser but is killed by an unseen force. The linguists Dannel and Lindran go to investigate but are also killed by the mysterious force, which possesses their bodies. Royd informs d'Branin and Melantha that the ship is haunted by the ghost of his late Mother. While d'Branin and Agatha travel in a gravity sled to seek the volcryn, Melantha and Royd attempt to retake the ship from Royd's Mother. d'Branin discovers that the volcryn are giant space-faring creatures that live in space.
Melantha manages to destroy the possessed corpses of Dannel and Lindran in the ship's mass conversion unit. Royd manages to subdue his Mother by restoring the ship's gravity but is killed in the process. He becomes a ghost and manages to take control of the ship from Mother. Due to the danger of the ghostly entities aboard the ship, Melantha decides to spend her remaining days aboard the Nightflyer, rebuffing Royd's pleas to repair the ship. Before she dies, she intends to destroy the central crystal and clear the ship's computers before setting a course to the closest inhabited world. Melantha vows not to leave Royd alone with his dead mother.