SCI-FI MONTH Review: Hawksbill Station by Robert Silverberg
This is my first Silverberg read. Hawksbill Station is an intriguing tale about man’s creativity in creating punishments. The station is a prison millions of years in the past. Here a group of men(Female prisoners are housed in a different area and time stream) live life knowing that no trace of them will ever be found, since they are living millions of years in the past.
The men have formed as much of a community as possible. They rely on all their medicine and supplies coming from The Anvil, a one way teleporter. Barrett is the leader of the group. He helps keep the sane ones sane and the difficult ones in check. Barrett’s kingdom is shaken by the appearance of a new prisoner Lew Hawn.
Lew is very suspicious to the regular inmates. He doesn't know much about the political climate of Earth and other key information that a true criminal would have. As the story unfolds Hawn is reveled to be a threat that could tear Barrett’s tightly controlled community to threads.
I really liked the premise of this story. It also seems quite plausible and something a controlled society would do with those that had the strength to speak out. Really nice dramatic tension is built up and Hawn’s true identity was quite the surprise. Very relatable for a story written in 1967.
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