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In an alien universe where space and time play by different rules, interstellar voyages last longer for the travellers than for those they left behind. After six generations in flight, the inhabitants of the mountain-sized spacecraft the Peerless have used their borrowed time to develop advanced technology that could save their home world from annihilation. But not every traveller feels allegiance to a world they have never seen, and as tensions mount over the risks of turning the ship around and starting the long voyage home, a new complication arises: the prospect of constructing a messaging system that will give the Peerless news of its own future. While some of the crew welcome the opportunity to be warned of impending dangers - and perhaps even hear reports of the ship's triumphant return - others are convinced that knowing what lies ahead will be oppressive, and that the system will be abused. Agata longs for a chance to hear a message from the ancestors back on the home world, proving that the sacrifices of the travellers have not been in vain, but her most outspoken rival, Ramiro, fears that the system will undermine every decision the travellers make. When a vote fails to settle the matter and dissent erupts into violence, Ramiro, Agata and their allies must seek a new way to bring peace to the Peerless - by traveling to a world where time runs in reverse. THE ARROWS OF TIME is the final volume of the Orthogonal trilogy, bringing a powerful and surprising conclusion to the epic story of the Peerless that began with THE CLOCKWORK ROCKET and THE ETERNAL FLAME.… (more)
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To save their home planet, which is menaced by a stream of ever-larger meteorites, an audacious plan is proposed by a famous scientist called Yalda, to send the Peerless, a hollowed-out mountain, re-purposed as a space ship, backwards in time to find an answer to this threat of extinction. This is not passed on the nod, but provokes opposition, some from alternative plans, and some from those simply opposed, who use public pressure and sometimes violence to try and get their way. These aliens are alien though, as the females burst apart to create offspring , who are then nurtured by males. They have flexible bodies with eyes front and back and can create pictures on their skin.
Six generations pass after the Peerless sets off, and things have moved on. Again, the story portrays life aboard the ship – now with new controversies raging over a slow move towards a new reproductive cycle, caused by the privations of the mission. Some question the plan laid down for them by Yalda. An alternative to saving the "ancestors" is to find a new and habitable planet. The desire to find a place to settle leads to a landing on a time-reversed planet where things are work backwards. And the main ship itself now uses networking, and male/female couples have become more acceptable.
Finally, a new complication arises: the prospect of constructing a messaging system that will give the Peerless news of its own future. While some see this as a chance to learn of their mission’s ultimate success, others are convinced that the knowledge will be oppressive or worse. The conflict over this proposed communication system again threaten the travellers’ world.
This really is a remarkable trilogy. Unlike most which hark back to some past, mythical Eden, this one looks forward, to a transformation of society based on conceptual breakthroughs both in theoretical science and in the more mundane, but no less important, social domain. This is the first example of a real science fiction trilogy, which gives a vision of how different science can be and how that might affect living creatures. Considering that this is such a radical departure from the norm in science fiction, it is a shame that no prizes or even nominations have been forthcoming.