Non-Stop
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. He 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 and the outsiders use the hidden maintenance passages. Later on, inspired by what he has seen, Roy Complain escapes from a locked room through an air vent. By the end of the story, the secret is well and truly out.
- 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.
- All Hail the Great God Mickey: The local religion is centered around very misunderstood psychoanalytic concepts. Subconsciousness is the devil figure. and so on. Subverted though, as the religion was started by a madman shortly before everything fell apart.
- Apocalyptic Log: The captain's diary.
- Artificial Gravity: Can be best seen by its absence in the places where the gravity-generating machinery has broken down.
- Earth All Along: Or rather, Earth's orbit all along. The ship had already made its return trip 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 document that shows that he is descended from the ship's ancient captain, Gregory Complain.
- Lost Technology: Everywhere. The ceiling lights and the doors that are opened by keycards are prominent examples.
- Mutants: The ship is full of them. Every living thing there has been mutated except the outside researchers, who are normal humans.
- Naming Your Colony World: New Earth, the planet the ship was sent to colonize.
- 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: An ignorant character tries to do this with an air lock.
- 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 with clear designs for supremacy.
- Telepathy: The rabbits on the ship have developed telepathy but retain their animal intelligence. The moths are also telepathic.