Non-Stop

Non-Stop is a classic 1958 science fiction novel by Brian Aldiss. The main character, Roy Complain, is a hunter in a primitive jungle tribe. He joins the priest Henry Marapper and others on a quest to travel to the end of their world, which Complain has trouble believing is really a ship in emptiness like Marapper says. Marapper has found a map of the ship and is trying to find the control room.

The book subverts reader expectations, providing many surprises even - in some cases even especially - to fans of the genre

Tropes used in Non-Stop include:

• After the End
• Air Vent Passageway: Used by the rats. The giants and the outsiders use the hidden maintenance passages. Later on, inspired by what he has seen, Roy Complain escapes from a locked room through an air vent. By the end of the story, the secret is well and truly out.
• Alien Kudzu: The "ponics" that fill the ship corridors are mutated plants that grow and spread extremely fast. They may also be intelligent, but it's not like anyone can talk with them.
• All Hail the Great God Mickey: The local religion is centered around very misunderstood psychoanalytic concepts. Subconsciousness is the devil figure. and so on. Subverted though, as the religion was started by a madman shortly before everything fell apart.
• Always Save the Girl: Notably averted. Roy Complains's wife Gwenny is abducted early on in the story. Nothing is ever done about that, and before too long she is forgotten about entirely.
• Apocalyptic Log: The old captain's diary.
• Artificial Gravity: Can be best seen by its absence in the places where the gravity-generating machinery has broken down.
• Benevolent Precursors: You have to admit that the ship was built impressively well. It was also a nice thing to destroy all the more destructive weapons onboard before everything completely fell apart. Hiding the control room and destroying the control panels might not sound so nice, but it successfully kept the ship on its original course back to Earth.
• Earth All Along: Or rather, Earth's orbit all along. The ship had already made its return trip well before the beginning of the story.
• Frickin' Laser Beams: The scars of old battles are still visible in certain places.
  • Later on a character gets his hands on a laser welder. Destruction ensues.
• Generation Ship: The entire story takes place on one.
• Human Subspecies: Caused by an alien amino acid.
• Heroic Lineage: Gregg Complain finds a document that shows that he is descended from the ship's ancient captain, Gregory Complain.
• Lost Technology: Everywhere. The ceiling lights and the doors that are opened by keycards are prominent examples.
• Low Culture, High Tech: Lost technology is everywhere, but Greene Tribe is culturally about early neolithic. The Forwarders have more social structure and are fully settled farmers.
• Mutants: The ship is full of them. Every living thing there has been mutated except the outside researchers, who are normal humans.
• Naming Your Colony World: New Earth, the planet the ship was sent to colonize.
• Never Recycle a Building: Unlooted rooms still exist after all this time, in large part due to the low population.
• The Plague: In the backstory.
• Ragnarok Proofing: The ship was made to last. Partially subverted though, as the ship has actually been getting outside maintenance lately.
• Self-Destruct Mechanism: Kind of. More accurately, an emergency mechanism to disassemble the ship to its constituent decks, each of which has its own life support system. The moths accidentally trigger this in the end.
• Shoot Out the Lock: An ignorant character tries to do this with an air lock.
• Stun Gun: The dazers. They can also be set to kill.
• Swarm of Rats: A civilization of vicious mutant rats as smart as humans and with clear designs for supremacy.
• Telepathy: The rabbits on the ship have developed telepathy but retain their animal intelligence. The moths are also telepathic.