looking for a sci fi book i read in the 70's

[brainfade]

the details i can remember are

A guy (don't remember if he's a visitor or a resident) comes to in a world inhabited by children, when they reach adulthood they die.
This guy is old he finds transporter booths in old building, he wonders why they none of them work. Then finds one with power he steps inside and activates it, it operates then shuts down and he has not gone anywhere [this is at this point, later he discovers that this transporter removed all the bad parts of his aging body down to cell level so that he is healthier]. He is captured or joins a group of children who wonder why he is alive.

i wonder if another member will know the title or author from the details above cheers

 

[chrispenycate]

Well, the author (I think) is Larry Niven, and the book is "A World out of Time". But most of the boys don't grow up, they stay childern for ever. (their form of immortality) while the "dictor immortality" (that right? I't's been a long time) aquired by using the machine wasfor a previous stage of civilization. Cattails? Rammer? Corpsicle? does that sound right?

 

[Ian Whates]

I think you're right, Chris, though like you, it's a long, long time since I read this book. The central character is a ramjet pilot who has become stranded on the world, if memory serves me right.

 

[NanoNano]

This may not be helpful, but did the story involve the character entering a cubical yellow building on a slight hill, in an otherwise unoccupied planet, to find this teleportation system?

Read a novel with that scene that sounds somewhat similar to what you are describing...

 

[brainfade]

many thanks for the replys i'll search out these books and let you.

 

[Omphalos]

A World out of Time was about a corpsicle that was awoken with out any rights and was trained to operate a ramship that he stole. He went to the center of the galaxy and skipped over the event horizon of the central black hole (Niven uses that a lot) and comes back in the far future. He goes to Earth and the only habitable land is in Antarctica. Cat tails are cat/snakes combinations. Sounds like you are describing that Larry Niven book.