Children of Time

Adrian Tchaikovsky’s Children of Time (2015) is a hard science fiction novel focused on evolutionary world-building and marks the beginning of the Children of Time trilogy. The novel has a split focus on the survivors of the human race in search of a safe place to call home and the accidental evolution of a species of spiders on a terraformed planet. This dual perspective presents challenging moral and philosophical questions regarding The Conflict Between Tradition and Progress, The Link between Physical Attributes and Cultural Evolution, and Promoting Coexistence through Mutual Understanding.

Tchaikovsky has written more than 30 science fiction and fantasy novels. His background includes a degree in zoology, which directly informs the evolution and development of the spider-based characters in Children of Time. The novel won the 2016 Arthur C. Clarke award for science fiction, and Tchaikovsky has also been inducted into the European Science Fiction Society’s hall of fame as a Best Author.

This guide refers to the 2016 Pan Books Paperback edition.

Plot Summary

The novel opens with Dr. Avrana Kern’s experimental world, a terraformed planet into which a nanovirus is about to be released in order to speed the evolution of monkeys. However, her experiment is sabotaged by an agent of a religious faction that opposes scientific progress from Earth. The monkeys are destroyed, and Kern narrowly escapes the destruction of the space station, sending herself into cold storage in a satellite that orbits the planet. The nanovirus, however, is successfully deployed and infects various invertebrates on the planet, most notably a species of spider.

Almost 2,000 years later, the ark ship Gilgamesh, which is carrying 500,000 survivors of the human race, encounters Kern’s distress signal. The leader, Vrie Guyen, directs classicist Holsten Mason to translate the signal and then sets a course for the source. When they arrive, they wake Kern (or rather, her AI counterpart), and she insists that they leave the planet undisturbed. They plead for their survival, explaining that Earth’s ecosystem was destroyed by the Old Empire, resulting in the technological devolution of humanity. After making a significant show of force that destroys their drones, Kern gives them coordinates for another terraforming project.

Interspersed with the human narrative is the story of the evolution of the spiders on the planet that Kern oversees. Each generation is represented by a different spider: Portia, Bianca, and Fabian. The spiders advance quickly, developing a genetic transmission of knowledge and understanding. The spiders’ first enemies are the massive, destructive colonies of ants, which are also affected by the nanovirus, but to a lesser extent. The ants discover chemical fire, metal, and glass through their industriousness, but their ravenous colonies pose a significant threat to the spiders. After nearly losing the war against the ants entirely, the spiders discover a way to use chemicals to disrupt the ants’ purpose and reprogram them as support instead of enemies. They also obtain technology that allows them to receive the signals from Kern’s orbiting pod.

At the same time, Holsten and Lain are taken hostage by mutineers who resist Guyen’s plan to force the settlers onto a frozen moon. They are taken to Kern’s World, or the Green Planet, and encounter both ants and spiders. Kern allows Karst to land and take the mutineers and hostages away, but one mutineer escapes and is captured and studied by the spiders. The arrival of the humans causes the spider civilization to develop a religious mythology connected to space and to the mysterious signal pattern sent out by Kern’s satellite.

The humans reach the partially terraformed world that Kern recommended, only to discover a pervasive fungus and a planet that is unfit for human settlement. The terraforming station, however, offers rich Old Empire technology that they use to reinforce the ship with the intention of returning to Kern’s World. Guyen also discovers a machine that is designed to upload a consciousness into a computer AI terminal.

The next generation of spiders faces a deadly plague. The new Portia and her fellow spider scientists work desperately to save the species. They discover the concept of genetic inheritance and begin to untangle traits for immunity and for passing down knowledge. In this process, they also find the nanovirus, which is tied to the order and mysticism related to Kern’s satellite and its signals. Portia, Bianca, and Viola succeed in curing the plague and saving the species. The spiders then use Bianca’s research to respond to Kern’s signals; Kern’s confused consciousness, which is a blend of her human self and her newer AI traits, is still deeply invested in the success of the original (fully human) Kern’s experiment with monkeys. As a result, Kern now refuses to acknowledge the fact that the beings below are spiders, not monkeys.

Aboard the Gilgamesh, Holsten is pulled out of cold storage and imprisoned by Guyen’s followers. Guyen’s desire for power and immortality has resulted in his creation of a cult that worships him as a god. Lain sees the danger in Guyen’s megalomania and convinces Holsten to assist her in overthrowing him. Guyen initially appears reasonable to Holsten, explaining his plan to return the Gilgamesh to Kern’s World to save humanity. However, Guyen reveals his mental health issues when he explains why he allowed the lunar colony to die without intervention. Lain and Holsten stop Guyen, and Lain begins the hard work of repairing the ship.

In the eons that pass, the religion surrounding Kern has become the primary governing force in Great Nest—one the spiders’ flourishing cities. The next Portia, a priestess, works to complete the commandments (signals) of The Messenger (the spiders’ term for Kern’s satellite). Her assistant, Fabian, tries to convince her to grant male spiders equal rights, but when she rebuffs him, he goes to the rival city of Seven Trees. Seven Trees is in conflict with Great Nest due to a pragmatic competition for resources and a disagreement over religious issues. Fabian helps Seven Trees to defeat Great Nest with his new developments. As a result of his triumph, male spiders are protected from being hunted and killed by female spiders (an old, harmful pattern that originates from the biological imperatives of the two arachnid sexes). Male spiders are also granted the right to establish peer groups.

Kern’s painstaking intervention results in the spiders’ technological advancement to the beginnings of space travel. Bianca, this generation’s inventor, who has abandoned the religiosity associated with The Messenger, figures out a way to send images to Kern’s satellite. While the pictures are transmitting, Portia and Fabian pioneer the first attempt to enter space. The gear that they have developed under Kern’s belief that they are monkeys proves to be subpar for spiders, and Fabian sacrifices his life to save Portia. Bianca’s pictures show Kern the truth that the intelligent species on the planet is one of spiders, not monkeys, and she changes her approach.

Meanwhile, Lain and the humans have worked, through many generations and in and out of stasis, to repair and preserve The Gilgamesh as it makes its way back to Kern’s World. Holsten is awakened from stasis once again so that he can be transferred to a new stasis chamber after his is damaged. Lain convinces him to go back to sleep by showing him their daughter—an embryo waiting for a new world.

Much later, Holsten is brought back to consciousness for the last time as the ship approaches Kern’s World. When they get close to the planet, they discover a complex system of webbing that surrounds the planet and reaches out into space. They wake Lain, who is now so old that she is at the end of her life. Vitas, one of the key crew, argues that they have to approach the satellite with aggression because extending trust is too risky. Lain agrees, and they attack the satellite, sending it crashing to Earth. Holsten communicates briefly with Kern, trying once again to get permission to stay on the planet, and he notices transmissions that seem different from those previously sent by Kern.

The spiders have created a defense system and a plan to meet the humans’ arrival. Kern’s consciousness has been transferred to an underground center, where she is maintained by Fabian. Portia, the warrior, leads her companions on a mission to invade the humans’ ship.

The spiders invade the ship as Karst, the security officer, attacks them. He tries to knock the spiders off the hull, but he fails. Vitas attempts to create a substance to poison the spiders, but she is overrun by the arachnid invaders. Lain and Holsten hold each other as the spiders breach their cabin, and they lose consciousness.

The spiders have chosen to use their advanced technology to defeat the ants and cure the plague. They inject a simplified nanovirus into the humans, which creates an automatic sense of connection and friendship between spider and human. The humans are then brought to the planet’s surface, where the two races live harmoniously. Several human generations later, the humans and spiders have shared technology and understanding and are now embarking on a joint mission to track down a distress signal that they have picked up from the darkness of space.