The Boat of a Million Years

infobox Book |
name = The Boat of a Million Years
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
author = Poul Anderson
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series =
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Tor Books
release_date = November 1989
media_type = Print (Hardback & Paperback)
pages = 470 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-312-93199-9
preceded_by =
followed_by =

"The Boat of a Million Years" is a science fiction novel by Poul Anderson first published in 1989 and nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel that same year. It was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel and the Prometheus Award in 1990.

Plot introduction

The novel follows a group of immortals from ancient times to the semi-distant future. Most of the novel follows the various 10 immortals throughout their life trying to find others like themselves, avoiding being killed, and remaining quiet about their gift. Gradually, the immortals begin to meet across the world, and form a family of sorts; one of the main problems the immortals face is the continued death of their short lived families.

Timeline

The novel begins with the oldest immortal, Hanno, a Phoenician sailor born about 1000 B.C.
*310 B.C. Hanno hears that a philosopher named Pytheas is looking for a sailor to lead an expedition to locate a possible sea-route to the far North to avoid the dangers from the Gauls. Hanno meets with him and agrees to head the expedition from Greece to the north seas.
*27 B.C. Patulcius, an immortal, is born to a family of equestrian class in Rome. He takes a job in the Roman Empire's bureaucracy; when it is time for him to retire, he moves far away and simply starts his career anew with a new identity, repeating the process as needed.
*79 B.C. Tu Shan, an immortal, is born in the Three Great Rocks district
*1 A.D. Hanno lives as a trader in Britannia
*19 A.D. Tu Shan wanders from village to village in China preaching Taoist philosophy. He is approached by the Emperor of China's men who want him to serve in the emperors court. He refuses and begins to travel eastward, eventually arriving in Tibet
*279 A.D. Hanno and Rufus' estimation of the time of Rufus' birth
*330 A.D. Patulcius moves to Byzantium with Constantine I.
*359 A.D. Hanno has moved to Burdigala (Bordeaux) and become a successful merchant. During the decline in the Roman Empire he befriends Rufus. Rufus and Hanno flee Bordeaux and start to travel around Europe looking for others like themselves.
*641 A.D. Aliyat is forced to leave her people out of fear that they will kill her for never aging.
*998 A.D. An immortal called Nornagest tracks down another immortal, a Viking warlord, Starkadh. He attempts to get Starkadh to join him, but Starkadh is more interested in plunder. Starkadh dies in battle, and Nornagest chooses to die by consciously stopping his heart.
*1068 A.D. Patulcius is in Anatolia when it is conquered by the Great Seljuq Empire
*1170 A.D. Asagoa is born in Japan
*1072 A.D. Hanno, under the alias Cadoc, tracks down Aliyat who is living as a high-class prostitute under the name Athenais in Constantinople.
*1453 When the Ottoman Turks captured the city Oktay Saygun returns to join the civil service again.
*1540 A.D. Hanno leaves a box containing a physical description of himself in a church, with instructions not to be opened for a hundred years, to prove his immortality.
*1570 A.D. Tu Shan and Asagoa meet in Tibet, marry and have a child who dies shortly after being born
*1572 A.D. Tu Shan and Asagoa leave the Tibetian village and journey out into the world
*1640 A.D. Hanno, as Jacques Lacy of Ireland, meets with Armand Jean du Plessis de Richelieu to discuss the possibility of revealing their existence.
*1710 A.D. John Wanderer leaves his tribe.
*1872 A.D. Hanno going under the name of Tarrant pursues a Native American named Peregrino (who later takes the name John Wanderer) as Hanno believes that Wanderer is also an immortal. In the pursuit Rufus is killed trying to save a family from a native American attack
*1908 A.D. Patulcius is a low-level bureaucrat in Turkey.
*1925 A.D. John Wanderer locates and identifies Tu Shan and Asagoa. He meets with them in Tibet and speaks to them through an interpreter. At the time he is only able to hint to them his true identity (as an immortal) and his belief about their identity. He proposes to return in fifty years.
*1938 A.D. Hanno, as Kyrie McCready, meets Patulcius, as Oktay Saygun, having located him by placing an advertisement written by John Wanderer which read "Those who have lived so long that our forefathers are like brothers and comrades to them". Patulcius admits to Hanno that he is an immortal and agrees to keep in touch but makes it clear that he likes his life and doesn't want to join up with Hanno.
*1975 A.D. John Wanderer makes good on his promise and returns to Tu Shan and Asagoa. Tu Shan and Asagoa reveal that that their children are all mortal despite the fact that they have two immortal parents. He convinces them to join him and Hanno in America. Hanno has been placing ads hinting at other immortals to join him and also founded a research team to find out how to grant immortality to everyone.
*? In the future, everyone is immortal, and the Immortals have long ago revealed themselves. There is no civil service, so Patulcius is no longer employable. Tu Shan has tried to return to a primitive life and failed, as there is no longer a market for his handicrafts.They, mostly Hanno, convince the government to build them a ship to explore the universe with.

Notes

Chapter 3 "The comrade" was originally printed in Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact in June of 1998