Orphans of The Helix by Dan Simmons

“Orphans of The Helix” is a 1991 science fiction novella by Dan Simmons. It is about a group of deep space settlers who drop out of hyper-space to help some aliens protect their orbital forest ring.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

This story is set in Dan Simmons’ Hyperion universe – several hundred years after the events of Endymion – and is about several hundred thousand people of the Amoiete Spectrum Helix who are traveling far outside of human occupied space to settle a new world. However, in the midst of their journey, the AIs controlling the ship drop out of C-Plus Hawking space to investigate a distress signal. The signal turns out to belong to a group of Ousters and Templars who have settled a forest ring in a binary system. The problem is that a huge harvester ship is on its way to collect part of the ring – and it doesn’t seem to care that millions of people will die! As the Ousters ask for help the leaders of the Spectrum Helix culture make a startling discovery that changes everything.

The True Voice of the Tree Reta Kasteen nodded. “We had just begun attempting that – and diversifying the protogene growth centers just a few hundred kilometers from where we had parked the seedship in the leaves and branches of the alien ring, when…” She paused as if searching for the right words.

“The Destroyer came,” broadcast Far Rider.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• I am a huge fan of the Hyperion books, so it was really fun to read a short story set in that universe. It was neat reading all the references to Hyperion, Aenea, The Shrike and others.
• The harvester machine (and where it came from) was a very cool idea that lent a lot of tension to "Orphans of The Helix".
• Ah, I had to love the Spectrum Helix culture! They had some really interesting ideas. (In case you don’t remember, they were the ones who sheltered a sick Raul Endymion on Vitus-Gray-Balianus-B)

• The bad:

• The only thing I didn’t like about "Orphans of The Helix" was the slow build up of the plot. It reads more like a novel than a short story.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 46
• “Orphans of The Helix” garnered the following awards:

• It won the 2000 Locus Award for best novella.

Where you can find “Orphans of The Helix”:

• This novella first appeared in Robert Silverberg’s Far Horizons: All New Tales from the Greatest Worlds of Science Fiction.
• I was able to read the entire story online at the Google Book preview for The Space Opera Renaissance. (Website may not be viewable outside the USA)

Some Interesting Links:

• Did you know that Dan Simmons worked for 18 years in elementary education? Yep. You can learn more about this fantastic science fiction author on his website.
• If it has been a while since you read the Hyperion Cantos (or if you have never read them) then you may want to brush up on the story and its major characters.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might also like The Color of Sunfire, about a man who tells the story of discovering the elusive Puppeteer home world, by Larry Niven.

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