Titan (John Varley)

infobox Book |
name = Titan
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption = Cover of first edition (hardcover)
author = John Varley
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = United States
language = English
series = Gaea Trilogy
genre = Science fiction novel
publisher = Berkley Books
release_date = 1979
english_release_date =
media_type = Print (hardcover & paperback)
pages = 302 pp
isbn = ISBN 0-399-12326-1
preceded_by =
followed_by = Wizard (1980)

"Titan" is a 1979 science fiction novel by John Varley. It is the first book in his Gaea Trilogy. It was nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel in 1979, and the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 1980.

Plot summary

A scientific expedition to the planet Saturn in 2025, aboard the ship "Ringmaster", discovers a strange satellite in orbit around the planet. Commanding the ship is Cirocco Jones, a tall NASA career woman, aided by astronomer Gaby Plauget, the clone twin physicists April and August Polo, pilot Eugene Springfield, physician Calvin Greene and engineer Bill (whose last name is never given).

As they reach the satellite they realize it is a huge hollow torus, a Stanford torus habitat. Before they can report this the ship is entangled in cables from the object. They are rendered unconscious and later wake up inside the habitat. Initially separated. Cirroco and Gaby find each other through radio over the parts of their suits they still have and travel together to find the rest of the crew.

As the story progresses, they find Calvin living as a companion inside a Blimp, an intelligent gasbag a kilometer long, one of many that swim forever in the air inside the habitat. Calvin can speak to the blimp and understand its responses, which consist of whistles. His blimp's name is Whistlestop, in human terms. Calvin helps Gaby and Cirocco find the other crew members( except April). He remains with them temporarily but then decides to leave his human companions to live with the blimp permanently.

Later the remaining companions encounter the Titanides, strange centaurs who speak a language based on music. Cirocco finds she speaks this language mysteriously. The Titanides are in a state of war with Angels, birdlike humanoid creatures. They fight because of a genetic impulse that occurs when they are near each other, but do not know why they have the impulse.

The humans learn from the Titanides that there is a controlling intelligence, called Gaea, and it lives 600 km above them, in the hub. Cirocco, Gaby, and Gene decide to climb up to this place using the support cables that maintain the structure against centrifugal force. Gene is increasingly erratic - he attacks Gaby and attempts to rape Cirocco during the trip. They get rid of him and keep going. Months of climbing brings them high in one of the spokes of the great wheel. There they find April. She has been transformed into an angel, of a solitary species. She can hardly bear to be near them.

Finally reaching the hub, they discover Gaea, who presents herself as a frumpy middle aged woman. She explains that the great wheel is old, and some of the regional intelligences around the rim have rebelled against the center. One of them captured the "Ringmaster" and altered some of the crew. Gaea rescued them and, unable to change them back, placed them where they would be happy. She makes an offer to Cirocco: in exchange for long life and unusual abilities, she can be Gaea's agent at the Rim, her Wizard. Cirocco accepts, with the condition that the war between the Titanides and Angels must stop.

Gaea's personality is that of a movie addict. She has been watching television signals from Earth and is obsessed by movies, especially from Hollywood's Golden Age. The war was something she started because she had seen it in these movies. This movie theme repeats throughout the trilogy, especially the final volume.