Ultimate Quest-Jack Vance short story

Ultimate Quest-Jack Vance short story

AKA: “Dead Ahead” (author’s preferred title)

Ultimate Quest is a 18/19 page short story that was first published in the magazine Super Science Stories in September, 1950 under the title "Ultimate Quest".  In 1986 it was released under the title of "Dead Ahead" in a collection of Vance shorter works titled The Dark Side of the Moon. It has retained that title in subsequent releases and is the title preferred by the author and used in the Vance Integral Edition.

A space captain, Chiram, and a financier sponsor are planning for two spaceships to travel the length of the universe by going straight ahead in one direction at many times the speed of light.  The assumption is that the universe is circular and not infinite so that by traveling in just one direction they will eventually arrive home again. The trick is to make sure the flight course is absolutely straight because even a slight deviation in piloting will get them hopelessly lost. Because of advanced technology their ship can travel at the speed of “six or seven thousand light years a second” so that it will take them “a hundred billion light years in six months.”

The old, seasoned pilot is forced to take along the sponsor's young son, Jay, who is, inexperienced, just out of college, but has many new ideas for piloting. Although the son is asked to keep his ideas to himself, he is permitted to bring along a gyro-compass and computer to help verify that the piloting is accurate. When his gyro-compass indicate a navigational error he tells the captain about it, but his findings are dismissed. If Jay’s gyro-compass is correct and they are off course, then all of their lives are at stake. A major conflict between the captain and Jay seems inevitable as Jay tries to argue his case. This is a classic science fiction story with plenty of technical details and scientific explanations. I’ve read this several times and rated it a 3 “Liked it.”

Included in the Vance collection titled The Dark Side of The Moon (1986)

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Gadget Stories (2005) part of VIE

Included in the Jack Vance collection titled Magic Highways: The Early Jack Vance, Volume 3 (2015)

Included in the Vance collection titled Sail 25 and Other Stories (2017 Spatterlight)