Pathfinder (2010) is a science fiction novel by American author Orson Scott Card. The novel tells the story of Rigg and his unusual ability to perceive the "paths" of living things throughout time. It is the first book in the completed Pathfinder series, and is followed by Ruins and Visitors.
Summary
People from Earth have colonized a new planet, giving it the name "Garden". This is accomplished with the assistance of human-like machines known as expendables. A select few of the colonists have gained unusual abilities, such as the ability to slow down time or the ability to jump forward into time. The narrative focuses on a boy named Rigg who has the ability to see the paths travelled in the past by any being, living or dead. After losing his father and mentor, Rigg sets out to meet his sister and mother he has never known.
Plot overview
Ram
The first several paragraphs of each chapter deal with Ram and tell the story of how the humans got to Garden. Ram is a pilot of a ship meant to help keep the human race alive by jumping through space and landing on the new planet. Another ship is heading to the same or similar planet, it is not very clear. Because of something special about Ram, when they make the jump, the ship is sent backwards 11,191 years into the past, the date the calendar of Garden begins on. The ship is also divided into nineteen copies, plus one as one of them are going backward in time. The first several Ram sections deal with one of the backwards moving ships. Ram trying to figure out what went wrong, only he discovers nothing went wrong and they are on one of the backward moving ships. After, it goes to a Ram on a forwards moving ships, explaining what happened. Ram then orders for all the other Rams to be killed, unfortunately he isn't fast enough and another Ram gets to stay alive. This Ram must define what is human, so the expendables can fulfill their function correctly. He also gets to name the planet. He comes up with the decision to build the Walls before going into stasis. He gives the expendables one last command: that they have control of the colony until someone becomes intelligent enough to get through the Walls, after which they will have to become subservient again.
Rigg
Rigg lives with his father, trapping animals and being educated extensively for purposes unknown. One day Rigg finds his father dying, apparently impaled by a fallen tree. As he dies, he tells Rigg to go to the ancient city of Aressa Sessamo and find his sister Param and mother, and that the innkeeper Nox has incredibly valuable jewels for him that he will need on his journey. After evading a band of pursuers after being falsely accused of murder, he finds Nox and gets the jewels and some money. Rigg heads out of the city, but his childhood friend Umbo follows and demands to join him. During the journey to Aressa Sessamo, the pair learn that with Rigg's pathfinding skills and Umbo's ability to slow the perception of time, they can interact with the people of the past by focusing on specific points on their paths. Umbo is affected by the changes they make (for instance, when the time travelers accidentally create legends after being seen in the past, he remembers them), but Rigg is not, remembering things as they were before the past was altered.