Titan is the first part of the fantasy series The Gaiaan Trilogy, written by John Varley. This series captures the experiences of Cirocco Jones and Gaby Plauget on the planet Titan. Book summary Reading Warning: The following text contains details about the content and / or the end of the story.
Cirocco and her crew discover on their journey to Saturn a strange planet: a perfect wheel that revolves around the planet Saturn. The planet appears to be a torus on closer insight: a huge donut figure with spikes to the center. Before they can send a message to the earth they are seized by huge tentacles and after an undefined time the crew is in the torus.
The book further tells the search for the secret of the builders of this peculiar construction (which must undoubtedly be artificially constructed). Inside the torus are the strangest creatures:
- Titanids are copies as described in Greek mythology. They have a number of peculiar features: they are bilingual, can boast very well and sing well (this is actually their usual means of communication).
- Angels are the angels like us, Earthers, they know: human beings with huge wings on their backs. They live in the spells of the planet and are in war with the Titanids.
Cirocco finds that the mystery of the planet is in the central part where the spokes meet. After a month-long search in which she finds one of her old crew members, she eventually arrives in the central part. There she finds that the Torus is not a planet but an enormous being, Gaia, who feels God in her own "body." Gaia shows herself as an old female and says she has been a fan of the human race for years. She has been studying the radio and television broadcasts that reach her for years and she targets her planet according to the images she receives from Earth. However, she also has her problems: her outer ring is managed by twelve minor deities (countries mentioned) and some of them are rebellious and want to destroy her. Gaia makes Cirocco a proposal: in exchange for eternal life and some punishing qualities, Cirocco can be her agent (her wizard) in the outer ring. She keeps the deities under control and signals repetition to Gaia. In exchange for stopping the war between angels and titanids, Cirocco accepts this proposal.
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