Colony was the first novel written by Rob Grant outside the Red Dwarf series. It's based on a spaceship sent out on a voyage taking several centuries in order to colonise another planet. Rob Grants novel, Colony. ... This article describes the British science fiction comedy television series. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2nd of March, 2004. ... Artists conception of a space habitat called the Stanford torus, by Don Davis Space colonization, also called space settlement and space humanization, is the hypothetical permanent autonomous (self-sufficient) human habitation of locations outside Earth. ...

Plot

The story starts on Earth in the future. Global warming and over population has caused an imminent apocalypse. The hope for the survival of the human race is a spaceship called the Willflower, which will take a small number of the world's best minds on a journey to colonise another planet. Eddie O'Hare is not one of them. He is deep in debt due to a computer error and fearing what injury the debt collectors might inflict. Earth is the third planet in the solar system. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean surface temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming is a term used to describe the trend of increases in the average temperature of the Earths atmosphere and oceans... Look up Apocalypse in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

When gambling his the last of his money he happens to meet a man who looks strikingly familiar to himself. He discovers that the other man is due to go on the Willflower but doesn't want to go. Due to the ramifications for the rest of his family he can't refuse to leave. So he offers Eddie a place in place of himself. Eddie successfully smuggles himself on board. However, shortly after the ship sets off he is murdered by an unknown assailant.

The story then jumps forward several generations. He is revived as a robot with only his head and spinal column remaining of his original body, and trapped forever in a jar of green gloop. He finds himself on a ship full of idiots and there is something going wrong with the ship itself. As the only intelligent life form on board it is up to him to find out what. A humanoid robot manufactured by Honda. ...

Characters

Eddie O'Hare 

An accountant posing as a community planner and mistaken for a doctor, now resurrected in an egg-like robot suit with nerve endings all messed up (To the extent that the nerves controlling his right hand should control a muscle in his ass), who believes himself to be the unluckiest man ever (And, bluntly, he's got a damn point).

Paolo San Pablos 

A hitman with a penchant for pink socks and a total homicidal maniac.

Bernadette Oslo 

A member of the Willflower's crew; although her role is unclear, her nagging familiarity to Eddie, coupled with his asexual fondness for her, suggests that she may be his own descendent.

Father Lewis 

The ship's priest. Although, by his own admission, his career is difficult due to atheism (Jobs are inherited). A fan of pornography, he possesses several video tapes of the womens' shower room.

Styx 

Clones of the original security chief. Incredibly stupid (Mainly due to the mental deterioration involved in every new batch of drones), most people simply treat the drones as equipment, with Eddie being the sole exception.

Trinity Peck 

The Willflower's science officer, who unfortunately happens to be a religious nutball who beats herself with a whip and regards Eddie as an agent of the Devil.

Captain Gwent 

A spotty teenager who names planets after bodily functions (Specificially, "Thrrrppp", "Penis", "Panties", and "Jockstrap") and appears totally unconcerned about the fact that he's meant to be in charge of the mission.