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Titan is a novel written by John Varley. Released in 1979, it is the first novel in Varley's Gaea series and tells of the starship Ringmaster entering into Gaea.
Characters[]
- Cirocco "Rocky" Jones - the captain of the Ringmaster
- Gaea - a massive sentient moon
- Gaby Plauget - the Ringmaster's astronomer, who falls in love with Cirocco
- August 3/02 Polo - one of the Polo twins
- April 15/02 Polo (or Ariel the Swift) - one of the Polo twins, made into an angel
- Eugene "Gene" Springfield - the Ringmaster's pilot, who is very negatively affected by his time spent within Gaea's bowels
- Calvin Greene - the Ringmaster's surgeon, given the ability to speak with the blimps of Gaea
- Bill - an engineer working on the Ringmaster
- Whistlestop - a Gaean blimp
- C Sharp Hornpipe - a Titanide
- C Sharp Meistersinger - the leader of Titantown
- B Lullaby - a Titanide healer
- Panpipe - a Titanide
- B Flat Banjo - a Titanide
- B Clarino - a pinto Titanide
- Strelkov - a Russian Lieutenant who serves under Svensen
- Svensen - the captain of the Unity
Publisher's summary[]
TITAN: The word aptly describes this big, important new SF novel by the popular young author of The Ophiuchi Hotline, a Hugo nominee. In the tradition of Arthur C. Clarke's Rendezvous with Rama, and Larry Niven's Ringworld, John Varley has created an extraordinary setting for fantastic adventure.
In Titan, Varley has embarked on a masterwork, the creation of Gaea, the Titan, an astronomically huge create in orbit around the planet Saturn. Captain Cirocco "Rocky" Jones and her crew soon realize that the awesome object they have found can only be an artifact of alien intelligence. Abandoning all previous plans, the Ringmaster sets about investigating the enormous wheel-shaped structure. But before they even have a chance to establish orbit around it, Gaea sends out tentacles, pulls the Ringmaster apart, and draws the crew deep inside its bowels. There they remain, isolated from one another, in a state of near-total sensory deprivation, while Gaea works her mysteries on their minds.
After an unknown period of time, Rocky and her crew are disgorged into the Titan's incredible internal world - an organic kaleidosocpe of a fairyland which they share with centaurs, harpies, angels, mudfish, not-quite-kangaros, whalelike things that sail through the sky and other indescribable products of a Disneyesque imagination. Though this world seems benign, almost a paradise, Rocky is too well trained to accept it at face value. And too curious. She sets about to find her crew, re-establish her command, and find out what makes Gaea tick.
Rocky's story is an odyssey though this unpredictable world, a trip fraught with unexpected dangers and dazzling discoveries, leading her ultimately to the intelligence that presides over Gaea.
Plot[]
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, and Chapter 3[]
In the orbit of Saturn, the NASA spaceship Ringmaster surveys the twelfth satellite of Saturn. Though it is initially thought to be a tiny moon which is dubbed "Themis" (in a press release that the captain of the ship, Cirocco "Rocky" Jones derides after having coitus in zero-Gs), further scans reveal that it is actually an extremely dark and large torroidal object with a few bright spots. It is also revealed to be in a rather unusual orbit and completely hollow on the inside. As such, the crew of the Ringmaster assume that it is actually a massive spaceship.
Further scans by the Ringmaster's astronomer Gaby Plauget reveal that Themis has only one location for docking with other ships and that the interior of Themis resembles a massive wagon wheel. After discussing these scans with Captain Cirocco, Gaby discusses her worries about her relationships with several crew members and is assuaged by the Captain.
While the Ringmaster approaches Themis, it is noticed by a strange group of tentacles that come from within Themis itself. These tentacles grab the ship and begin to tear it apart. All of the crew able to get into spacesuits before the Ringmaster is depressurized (though most of them are injured while the ship is torn apart) and are soon grabbed by the tentacles and dragged into the depths of Themis.
Chapter 4 and Chapter 5[]
Cirocco awakens in a mysterious void deep within the depths of Themis basically nude and shaved. After "exploring" her own body and remembering who she is and how she got onto Themis, she is extruded out onto the "surface" of Themis' hollow interior. Once outside, she finds that she is in a technicolor forest and that, while most of her suit was consumed by Themis, the metallic pieces were not. Fortunately for Cirocco, this includes the radio - which she uses to contact Gaby and speak with her as the two of them explore the mysterious forest.
After walking through the forest for a day, Cirocco and Gaby finally cross paths. Upon seeing each other, they are both stunned by their bodies and soon begin "exploring" them. Once this finishes, the two women begin discussing what they saw while within the depths of Themis. They each figure out that they spent (at least within their own minds) several decades within these depths and that they could remember alternate futures. They also realize that they might be in love with each other.
Chapter 6[]
Shortly after this, Cirocco and Gaby resume their wanderings through the forests of Themis. While doing this, the two of them find a group of strange kangaroo-like creatures and kill one of them for meat. As the two women trudge deeper into Themis, the forest becomes a veritable jungle. While wandering through the jungle, Cirocco and Gaby hear an extremely loud moaning sound as the temperature around them briefly drops and snow falls. Once the snow clears, Cirocco and Gaby walk further through the jungle until they come to a large cliff which gives them a good view of Themis' surface. This reveals that the exterior of Themis is kept up by massive cables - similarly to a suspension bridge. While trying to figure out how to scale down the cliff, Gaby and Cirocco find the Ringmaster's surgeon Calvin Greene sitting in a tree.
Chapter 7[]
Calvin explains that he could hear Gaby and Cirocco but couldn't respond to them as his radio was broken. He also explains that Gene and one of the two Polo twin physicists (specifically April, who is despondent at being separated from her twin) are at the bottom of the cliff. As none of them can climb down the cliff, the three decide to sleep (as all of them are somewhat sleep deprived).
Shortly after waking up, Cirocco climbs a tree and is extremely frightened by the sudden appearance of a massive blimp-like creature in the sky. Once she runs into Calvin, he explains that the massive blimp-like creature (whose name, effectively Anglicised as its actual name is a series of whistles, is Whistlestop) is completely friendly and that he gained some knowledge of these creatures while inside the bowels of Themis. Once Whistlestop comes around, Calvin asks Cirocco and Gaby to enter into Whistlestop's insides and use him to get to the bottom of the cliff. Though Gaby is extremely frightened by this, Cirocco is able to convince her to enter into Whistlestop's "stomach" - which is more like a gondola for the small creatures that digest its food. Once inside the stomach of the creature, Calvin gives Cirocco and Gaby a detailed description of Themis' geography - whose features he largely named after figures from Greek mythology.
Chapter 8[]
Once Whistlestop approaches where April and Gene are holed up, Calvin reveals that they will have to parachute to the bottom of the cliff in parachutes made inside of Whistlestop's body. Once they have parachuted out of Whistlestop Cirocco, Calvin, and Gaby find that they have landed in a muddy bank. They are soon reunited with April and Gene, and discover that they have made several rudimentary huts out of mud. After touring these huts, Cirocco "sleeps" with Gene and proclaims her love for him.
Chapter 9[]
Shortly after this, Calvin Greene announces that he is departing the camp to mingle with Whistlestop's people. Though Cirocco tries to convince him not to do this, Calvin convinces her that this is the correct thing to do - telling Cirocco to call the moon Gaea while leaving. Once Calvin departs, the remaining Ringmaster crewmembers settle into a somewhat rudimentary life before Cirocco grows tired of this life and starts making a plan to find out what lurks in the depths of Gaea and figure out if they can escape it in the process.
Chapter 10[]
As such, they build a raft out of large seed shells (which is ominously dubbed the Titanic and begin floating down the Clio. While doing so, they are menaced by mysterious eyes that stick out of the river. Cirocco soon notices another problem - she's missed her period. Cirocco learns that Gaby is also missing her period and (assuming that Gaea itself impregnated her with some strange creature) calls Calvin to perform an abortion. Calvin is hesitant to do this, as he has no sterilized tools on hand. Before leaving, Calvin reveals various lands within Gaea's confines, such as the frozen wastelands inhabited by murderous Yeti and a desert filled with ruins and a massive sandworm.
Chapter 11 and Chapter 12[]
After travelling through the Ophion for some time, Cirocco's crew begins travelling through the dense jungle around it to get closer to the cables holding up Gaea's interior. While doing so, they notice that several of the strands that make up these cables have frayed away and various small settlements built around the cables. They soon come across a ruined building built into loose sandy ground and find that there is no way to get into it from the outside. All of these features make the voyagers wonder if Gaea is a derelict ship or if it is still being maintained by something, and the sight of a collapsed strand strengthens the idea that Gaea is a derelict wandering through space.
Two days later, the Titanic leaves this rainforest and, while tracing the Ophion, enters into a land of flat ground. By this point, resources on the Titanic have began to run out and its crew turns to desperate measures for food, which leads them to try to kill one of the massive stargazer-like fish that lurks in the sand around them. This turns out to be a mistake, as the creature savagely attacks Bill - exposing the bone in one of his legs - and nearly killing both Cirocco and Gaby before they are able to escape.
Chapter 13 and 14[]
Cirocco and Gaby travel for two days before reaching an area of higher ground within East Hyperion and trying to contact the blimps. Before the blimps can arrive, Cirocco hears unusual music which comes from a "Titanide", one of the sentient humanoid races living within Gaea - who are essentially centaurs that speak a strange musical language. Once one of these Titanides arrives, Cirocco finds she can perfectly understand the Titanide language (just like with Calvin and the blimp language) and communicates with the Titanide (whose name she learns is a song which she abbreviates to C Sharp). C Sharp is somewhat confused by the presence of the humans but agrees to call a healer for Bill. Shortly after this, Cirocco reveals to C Sharp that she comes from Earth - a name that C Sharp strangely recognizes from Titanide fables - before another Titanide by the name of B Flat arrives.
C Sharp and B Flat (who, to Cirocco and Gaby's surprise, is seemingly intersexual) give food to the human travellers before taking them to the healer. While looking over Bill, this healer reveals that he only has a few hours left to live without adequate treatment and then begins covering his wound with disinfectants, various herbal remedies, and then wraps it all in bandages.
Chapter 15[]
While staying with the Titanides, Cirocco learns much about their culture. She discovers that they have three different reproductive organs (thus making them intersexual). She also discovers that the Titanides have access to both radio technology (using strange plants with crystals inside of them) and radar which they use to detect malevolent angels that attack the Titanides. Several days into this stay with the Titanides, Whistlestop arrives at the Titanide settlement. Unfortunately, a horde of angels were hiding on the blimp and begin an attack on the settlement after revealing themselves. Though brutal, this attack is short-lived - as the angels retreat when an army of Titanides arrive.
Chapter 16[]
Six days after the attack, Calvin is able to perform an abortion on Cirocco with the help of the healer (who Cirocco has dubbed B Lullaby, or just Lullaby). While doing so, they discover that Cirocco was somehow hosting a Titanide fetus within her body. While Cirocco recovers from this, Bill also begins to recover from his leg wound - though Calvin demands that he not move his leg for at least two weeks out of fear that it could break.
While within what Cirocco dubs "Titantown", Cirocco comes to learn that Gene also has the ability to speak with the Titanides. This comes to a head when Cirocco finds Gene trying to give weaponry to the leader of Titantown (whom Cirocco has dubbed C-sharp Meistersinger) to aid in their war against the angels. After telling Gene off for aiding a war, Cirocco speaks with Meistersinger. When Cirocco asks why the Titanides are fighting with the angels, she learns that the angels' songs drive the Titanides into blind rage. Despite this possible setback, she gets Meistersinger to agree to let her be an envoy of peace between the Titanides and the angels. Once this is finished, Meistersinger gives Cirocco a kiss goodbye, for he believes that he will never see Cirocco again.
Chapter 17[]
Shortly after this, Cirocco and Gaby depart from the Titantown on the backs of C Sharp Hornpipe and a Titanide that Cirocco dubs Panpipe. The four travelers make their way to an area of barren desert that the Titanides call "the place of winds". The meaning of this name becomes extremely apparent, as the travelers cross closer and closer to a massive storm that the Titanides know as the "crotch of Gaea". This storm is next to one of the cables leading to Gaea's center - which would take an arduous climb to reach. As such, Cirocco and Gaby return to Titantown. Unfortunately, they are caught in one of Gaea's exhalations and are forced to restrain, drunken, and deafen their two Titanides. While Hornpipe is able to survive this (and acts extremely flirtatious to Cirocco), Panpipe breaks free of his restraints. While returning to Titantown, the travelers find the mutilated body of Panpipe.
Chapter 18 and 19[]
Five days later, Cirocco begins to prepare for her expedition to the center of Gaea. While the Titanides gather resources for Cirocco to use, she narrows down who will join her on the expedition - deciding upon Gaby and Gene. Before leaving on Whistlestop, she visits Bill to tell him about the expedition. Though Bill wants her to stay until he can heal, Cirocco is able to convince him to stay behind while she leaves.
Though Whistlestop is able to bring the three travelers cable, they are forced to climb up the length of the cable on their own while tied to each other with a rope. This is an arduous process, which Gaby and Gene complain about somewhat frequently. Somewhat concerningly, Gene tries to get Cirocco to "sleep" with him and becomes somewhat offended when she refuses. Several days after this, the three travelers come across a glass castle built onto the cable. Though they are impressed by its nautilus-like interior, they find that it is completely abandoned. Only a few hours after this discovery, Cirocco wakes up to find Gene holding a knife to her throat. Gene claims that he has killed Gaby, that he has made friends with creatures living in the Rhea region, and forces Cirocco to "sleep" with him. While he is doing so, Cirocco notices that Gaby is still alive. As such, she escapes and runs to the glass castle - with Gene and Gaby following close behind. Once inside, Cirocco is able to trick Gene into falling down several floors. Unfortunately, she falls alongside him. Fortunately, Gaby is able to hit Gene with a hatchet.
Cirocco awakes shortly afterwards to find that she is still tied to Gaby and Gene. While Gene is unconscious, Cirocco convinces Gaby not to kill him, as she believes that Gene was extremely negatively affected by his time spent within Gaea, and decides to simply throw him over the side with a parachute. Once they do this, Gaby and Cirocco are unsure if Gene's parachute actually opened or not. Their minds are soon taken off this dilemma when Gaby reveals that she found a staircase while moving Cirocco and Gene.
Chapter 20[]
While walking through the staircase, Gaby and Cirocco discover it is an immense structure of tunnels covered in cold zones filled with ice. Despite the arctic nature of these zones, the two travelers are able to cross through them with relative ease. As such, they begin to wonder if they can reach the center of Gaea through the staircases - something that, by Cirocco's estimation, would take around two weeks. Before they can figure this out, they reach the floor of the spoke they are travelling through. This floor is completely covered in jungle and gives an extremely good view of the 300 kilometer completely vertical climb that Gaby and Cirocco would need to make to reach the very center of Gaea. Before they make this arduous climb or return to Titantown, the two travelers decide to look for an elevator within the jungle.
Chapter 21[]
Though Gaby and Cirocco are unable to find an elevator within the jungle, they find that they can climb up the trees within the spoke's interior. While doing so, they notice that the tunnel-shaped spoke's walls are able to expand and contract to push air around. As the two climb, they are caught in an extremely cold zone and briefly try to stay still while bundled up before climbing higher up into the spoke and finding a cave. While within the cave, Cirocco notices that the entrance has sealed shut behind them but assures Gaby that it will reopen. The two are essentially stuck in the warm cave for several days and soon become intimate. Five days later, they depart from the cave.
Chapter 22[]
"Six days past their third winter", Gaby and Cirocco begin to encounter angels. The first angel the two encounter flies away immediately after seeing them. While following this angel upwards, the two travelers hear the voice of April Polo. Once they find April (or Ariel the Swift, as she calls herself), they discover that she has become one of the angels. Due to the extremely anti-social tendencies of the so-called "Eagle clan" (which is closer to a subspecies), April finds it difficult to even talk to Cirocco. Despite this, she is able to reveal that the entire planet of Gaea is alive in some way. She also reveals that she planned the assault on Titantown - nearly killing her own sister during the attack, that the angels have an almost genetic hatred for the Titanides, and only true heroes are allowed to speak with Gaea. Ariel then departs while vowing never to see Cirocco or Gaby again.
Chapter 23[]
Eight months into Cirocco and Gaby's voyage through the spoke, the two travelers reach the final staircase leading to the hub of Gaea. After Cirocco takes out a sword, she and Gaby climb up this staircase and find that the hub is covered in a pulsing red night while a slow heartbeat sounds. Though somewhat scared Cirocco calls out to Gaea (first in English, then in Titanide song) demanding the being to show herself. Gaea then brings Gaby and Cirocco to her throne room and reveals herself to them - manifesting herself in the form of a massive green-skinned woman. Once Cirocco recovers from her fear and bashfulness at the form of Gaea, she demands justice from the being in the name of the United Nations. Gaea states that she is not a signatory of the Geneva Accords and demands that Cirocco sing to her of her adventures. Once Cirocco finishes this song, Gaea brings her and Gaby into her chambers.
Chapter 24[]
Once inside her chambers, a more human-sized Gaea reveals that her more grandiose form was nothing more than a trick of mirrors and offers Cirocco cocaine (which Cirocco accepts) before launching into an explanation of what she is, exactly.
She explains that she is the entirety of the moon of Gaea and that the body she is using was created by herself as a sort of avatar. Further elaborating, she explains that she is a Titan - a race of immense beings who were formed within the Solar system and orbit around the moons of the gas giants. Gaea has been alive for nearly three million years and is now approaching her death (having, by her estimation, only 100,000 years left to live of the 3,000,000 years she has lived). Within the tail end of this lifespan, Gaea listened to radio broadcasts from Earth and watched human movies. From these, she learned of the human fascination with war and decided to make the angels and Titanides completely and absolutely hate each other so that she could have her own little war. On Cirocco's orders, Gaea undoes this conditioning - sending the Titanides and angels to be "reprogrammed" within her bowels. With this out of the way, Gaea further explains that the major sections of her own body are controlled by other intelligences (similar to the numerous brains of the dinosaurs) and that, in her old age, some of these have slipped from her control. One of these is Oceanus - whom Gaea claims is the one that destroyed the Ringmaster.
Chapter 25[]
Gaea further explains that Oceanus along with several other regions of Gaea tried to revolt against her. Though Gaea was able to crush this revolution using her control over her own form, this war coincided with Ringmaster's visit to Titan. As such, Oceanus was able to manipulate some of the Ringmaster's crew (Gene and April) while they were inside of the bowels of Gaea. Though Gaea was unable to fix some of these crewmembers, she was able to visit most of them - though this caused some of them to lose memories. Gaea also explains that she implanted fetuses within Cirocco, Gaby, and August in an attempt to form hybrids between her own species and human DNA and that the war between the Titanides and the angels was a test to see if she could face off against humans (who she views as a somewhat war-loving species) in war. Unfortunately for Gaea, this test was a failure.
Though Cirocco is somewhat disgusted that Gaea effectively impregnated her without her consent, Gaea placates her by apologizing for this. She then tells Gaby and Cirocco that a rescue ship from Earth has arrived to pick up the remaining crewmembers of the Ringmaster. Before the two can leave, Gaea offers Cirocco a job as a "Wizard" with the power to manipulate the landscape of Gaea.
Chapter 26[]
Feeling that she would be completely bored back on Earth and seeking adventure, Cirocco accepts this job. Cirocco and Gaby then parachute out of the spoke and return to Titantown within Whistlestop. While approaching Titantown, the two travelers find that the crew of the rescue ship (the Unity) have already formed a base camp near Titantown. Once Whistlestop lands, Cirocco and Gaby (accompanied by Bill, whose leg has healed by now) tell the captain of the Unity what happened within Titan. Cirocco then reveals that she, Gaby, and Calvin plan to stay behind on Gaea. Though the captain of the Unity tries to have Cirocco arrested, Cirocco uses her new powers as a Wizard to convince him not to do so. Shortly after this, Cirocco and Gaby visit the wreck of the Ringmaster and then watch as Hornpipe emerges from the ground.
Worldbuilding[]
- By the time of Titan, humanity has established colonies on the Moon and (somewhat) mastered cloning.
- Cirocco was born thirty-four years ago (presumably in 1991). Conceived during a rape, Cirocco was born around the same time that a border skirmish between Iraq and Saudi Arabia turned into a full-blown war (which also involved Iran and Brazil).
rest to be added
Gallery[]
See also[]
| Title | Author | Release date | Significance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orphans of the Sky | Robert A. Heinlein | 1963 | A novel with a similar setting that is namedropped in this novel |
| Ringworld | Larry Niven | 1970 | A novel with a similar setting and similar themes |
| Rendezvous with Rama | Arthur C. Clarke | 1973 | A novel with a similar setting |
| Matter | Iain M. Banks | 2008 | A novel with a vaguely similar setting |
| Down | Lawrence Miles | 1997 | A novel with a similar setting |
| Sky Pirates! or the Eyes of the Schirron | Dave Stone | 1995 | A novel with a somewhat similar comedic tone |
| Parasite | Jim Mortimore | 1994 | A novel with a vaguely similar setting |
| Rogue Planet | Greg Bear | 2000 | A novel with a vaguely similar setting |
Sources[]
- Wikipedia