Short story I read in a collection by several authors, ship rides to edge of the universe and back, experiences big bang

Question

Years ago I had a collection of short stories, maybe 20 stories by different authors.

One of the stories still stands out to me. A ship left Earth looking for another planet to colonize. They ended up at the edge of the expanding universe. Eventually they ended up at the center where the big bang happened all over again and they got to experience the end and beginning of the universe. It seems like the name of it was "To The Edge of Time" or "Riding Eternity" or something like that.

Any ideas? I would love to find the story and read it again.

Answer 1

James Blish's A Clash of Cymbals involves the Manhattan island of the city of New York (pictured here in a Chriss Foss cover) flying to a point of zero space-time stress, using a device called a "spindizzy" …

… as it is the point where one can potentially survive the impending collision of this universe with an anti-matter universe. It was a novella in the 1950s that was published in a book series called Cities In Flight. Maybe you have mistaken a book series comprising eight novellas (the first and third books actually being several stories, originally) for a collection of short stories. ☺

As you can see from the Arrow cover blurb, by the point in the series where the book starts, the "Okies" of New York have flown away from Earth and the Milky Way (inspiring other cover art for the book) …

… and colonized one of the Magellanic Clouds. This story covers their travel to the so-called Metagalactic Centre to avoid the fate of the rest of the universe.

The name that you are vaguely remembering would be its original U.S. title, The Triumph of Time.

Answer 2

Could be Tau Zero by Poul Anderson. Ship has engine troubles and keeps going faster and faster. Time slows and they ride out the end of the universe and a new big bang.