Non-Stop

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Non-Stop is a classic 1958 science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss. The main character, Roy Complain, is a hunter in a primitive jungle tribe who joins the priest Henry Marapper and others on a quest to travel to the end of their world, which Complain has trouble believing is really a ship in emptiness like Marapper says. Marapper has found a map of the ship and is trying to find the control room and the ship's captain, with the intention of finally guiding the ship to a destination.

Tropes used in Non-Stop include:

• After the End
• Air Vent Passageway: Used by the rats. The "giants" use the maintenance passages.
• Alien Kudzu: The "ponics" that fill the ship corridors are mutated plants that grow and spread extremely fast. They may also be intelligent, but it's not like anyone can talk with them.
• Apocalyptic Log: The captain's diary.
• Artificial Gravity: The gravity is broken in some spots.
• Earth All Along: Or rather, Earth's orbit all along. The ship had already made its voyage home well before the beginning of the story.
• Frickin' Laser Beams: The scars of old battles are still visible in certain places.
  • Later on a character gets his hands on a laser welder. Destruction ensues.
• Generation Ship: The entire story takes place on one.
• Human Subspecies: Caused by an alien amino acid.
• Heroic Lineage: Gregg Complain finds a diary that shows him having descended from the ship's last true captain, Gregory Complain.
• Lost Technology: Everywhere.
• Mutants: Everything on the ship except the outside researchers, who are normal humans.
• Never Recycle a Building: Unlooted rooms still exist after all this time, in large part due to the low population.
• The Plague: In the backstory.
• Ragnarok Proofing: The ship was made to last. Partially subverted though, as the ship has actually been getting outside maintenance lately.
• Shoot Out the Lock: A character tries to do this with an air lock. Luckily the door and the entire outer hull are made of a metal that can withstand lasers.
• Stun Gun: The dazers. They can also be set to kill.
• Swarm of Rats: A civilization of vicious mutant rats as smart as humans and clear designs for supremacy.
• Telepathy: The moths and rabbits on the ship have developed telepathy but retain their animal intelligence.