Tunnel in the Sky: Difference between revisions

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A Malthusian catastrophe on Earth has been averted by the invention of [[Teleporters and Transporters|teleportation]], called the "[[Cool Gate|Ramsbotham jump]]", which is used to send Earth's excess population to colonize other planets. However, the costs of operating the device mean that the colonies are isolated from Earth until they can produce something to justify two-way trade. Because modern technology requires a supporting infrastructure, more primitive methods are employed — for example, horses instead of tractors.

 

On the second day, Rod is ambushed and knocked unconscious by a thief. When he wakes up, all he has left is a spare knife hidden under a bandage. In his desperate concentration on survival, he loses track of time. Eventually he teams up with Jacqueline "Jack" Daudet, a student from another class [[Samus Is a Girl|whom he initially mistakes for a male]]. When she tells him that more than ten days have elapsed without contact, he realizes that they are stranded...

 

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* [[China Takes Over the World]]: Militarily, and they only take over Australia. In the early chapters of the book, it is disclosed that at some time prior to the invention of teleportation, China conquered and colonized Australia, survivors of the original population (evidently here referring to both White Australians and Aborigines) being relocated to New Zealand.

* [[Cool Gate]]: The Ramsbotham gates, as mentioned above.

* [[Samus Is a Girl]] "Jack," facilitated by her [[24-Hour Armor]]. She wasn't sure that he would have teamed with her if he knew her actual sex.

* [[Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Scale/No Sense of Velocity|Sci-Fi Writers Have No Sense of Velocity]]: At the start of the story, two teenagers notice a new visible star above the alien world they're stranded on, and conclude that they've just witnessed a nova. At the book's end, it's revealed a nova is what interfered with their [[Cool Gate]] back to Earth. If it's the same nova - which is strongly implied; indeed, the chapter where they see it is ''titled'' "The Nova", and it reads like a [[Chekhov's Gun]] - then the boys shouldn't have been able to see its light until years after it happened.

* {{spoiler|[[Stranger in a Familiar Land]]: Rod's parents became [[Human Popsicle]]s (by using a [[Year Inside, Hour Outside]] application of the Ramsbotham jump) not long after he left, because his father had an illness that was ''just'' outside the current medical state-of-the-art's ability to cure. When Rod finally comes home some years later, his parents can't quite wrap their heads around the fact that he's just short of being legally of age.}}

* [[Suddenly Ethnicity]]: Other characters admit they couldn't tell Rod from Caroline (a Zulu girl) from a distance. There was no indication earlier in the story that Rod was black. Since this was missed by the earlier cover illustrators, early editions give Rod a [[Race Lift]] on the covers.

* [[Technology Marches On]]: Contemplating the flow of people through Ramsbotham gates, Rod decides to calculate how long it would take the current population of the Earth to go through, accounting for deaths and births along the way. He uses a slide rule.

* [[Teenage Wasteland]]: Much like ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'', the story is about a group of teenagers who are lost, stranded, or otherwise isolated from society. It works out because they were being taught survival techniques.

 

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