Bronze Age
Names: Bronze Agethe warship
First appears in Book 2: The Dark Forest, chapter 8 (“Yet its engine lights up. We’ve observed that. When it went out for a second time, Blue Shadow wasn’t close enough to capture an image in time, so we don’t know where the light came from.”)
Appearances
What you know
Book 2: The Dark Forest
- Ch 8It had entered deep-sea state before the battle at Ding Yi's behest and escaped at Ahead Four after the third row fell.
- Ch 8One of two surviving ships, with Quantum, flying away from the Solar System in the opposite direction to the five-ship group.
- Ch 8Bronze Age attacked Quantum with infrasonic H-bombs, killing everyone aboard while keeping the ship intact, then accelerated toward Taurus.
Book 3: Death's End
- Ch 13Bronze Age is decelerating on its return toward Earth; off-duty crew gather at the stern portholes to watch Earth, which looks like a pale-blue-tinged star.
- Ch 13Deceleration from the stellar drive creates artificial gravity that reaches 1G, making the stern portholes act as the floor.
- Ch 13When it left the Solar System, a law forbade anyone being born aboard unless someone died, so the crew now rejoice that they can have children.
- Ch 13Some crew are traumatized by space; one says he will retire and buy a farm once they return.
- Ch 13Bronze Age kept receiving transmissions from Earth for a year and a half after the fleet's destruction, until all radio from Earth ceased in November, Crisis Era Year 208.
- Ch 15After signals from Earth stopped, the crew assumed Trisolaris had conquered the Solar System and the ship accelerated toward a star 26 light-years away.
- Ch 15Bronze Age distrusted Fleet Command's recall message as a possible trap until a sophon opened a quantum communication channel with Earth and confirmed it.
- Ch 15Bronze Age's return voyage took eleven years because deceleration used most of its fusion fuel, forcing a low cruising speed.
- Ch 15The crew were welcomed as heroes by a seemingly cheering crowd, but this was a deception before their arrest.
- Ch 16Attacked and destroyed Quantum with an H-bomb, killing all 1,847 aboard, then returned to Earth orbit after a 350-billion-kilometer voyage.
- Ch 16Its crew turned Quantum's dead into food in the bio-recycling system after the ship's life support and hibernation systems were damaged during the Doomsday Battle.
- Ch 16Of the 1,768 crew other than the convicted officers, only 138 were declared innocent; the rest got sentences of twenty to three hundred years.
Connections
- enemy ofQuantumBronze Age killed Quantum's crew
- related toEarthreturning toward Earth
- member ofSolar Fleet
- led byNeil Scott
- has memberSebastian SchneiderWas one of the Bronze Age defendants
- has memberBoris Rovinski
Key moments
- Book 2 · Ch 8Ding Yi requests a deep-sea state
Ding Yi, uneasy, asks that Quantum enter a deep-sea state during his visit. The fleet approves, and Quantum and Bronze Age will do so once the examination team departs.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Annihilation of humanity's fleet
The droplet destroys the fleet in the debris cloud and its fleeing remnants. Only Quantum and Bronze Age escape; the droplet then heads toward the sun.
- Book 2 · Ch 8Blue Space destroys Ultimate Law and holds funeral
Blue Space, protected by vacuum, destroys Ultimate Law, salvages the dead ships, builds a space tomb for the victims, and departs into darkness. Bronze Age similarly destroys Quantum's crew far across the Solar System.
- Book 3 · Ch 13Bronze Age nears Earth
During final deceleration, the crew gather at the portholes, see Earth with the naked eye, and celebrate going home and the lifting of the childbirth restriction.
- Book 3 · Ch 13Earth falls silent
Fourteen years after the fleet's destruction, and after a year and a half of continued transmissions, all radio transmissions from Earth ceased in November, Crisis Era Year 208.
- Book 3 · Ch 15Recall message and confirmation
Ten days after Earth's signals stopped, Fleet Command's message ordered Bronze Age and Blue Space home. A sophon channel then confirmed it, and Bronze Age turned back.
- Book 3 · Ch 15Bronze Age returns to Earth
After eleven years, Bronze Age is escorted by Gravity into the orbital spaceport, where a crowd welcomes the crew with flowers.
- Book 3 · Ch 15Crew arrested
After roll call, the welcome turns out to be a deception. The fleet captain dishonorably discharges the crew, and military police arrest them for murder and crimes against humanity.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Court-martial of Bronze Age crew
At the fleet base in geosynchronous orbit, Scott, Schneider and Rovinski are questioned. Scott admits 94% of the crew voted to attack Quantum, and Rovinski reveals the crew ate Quantum's dead. Scott and six officers get life sentences, and most of the crew get long terms.
- Book 3 · Ch 16Schneider's warning to Blue Space
During the ship handover, Schneider traps his guards, activates Bronze Age's interstellar antenna, warns Blue Space not to return, and is killed by laser fire.