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I am trying in vain to locate a book I read in 2001, I think it was older than that though. I can't remember a lot about it other than I enjoyed it. It dealt with a generation / ARC ship preparing to leave Earth and a terrorist group trying to stop it from "taking the earth's resources." I remember that one of the characters was staying at NASA in Houston while they got ready to leave. There was a Japanese woman that ran the company that was building the generation ship. The terrorists were using missiles to shoot down the supply ships going up to the generation ship that is being built in orbit. The Japanese woman gets massages (it was the first time I had heard the phrase "happy ending"). Another character worries about his "marriage contract" expiring. One of the characters is in charge of loading the storehouse of Earth's information to the ship.

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  • The first time you heard that phrase, or the first time the character had heard it?
    – Joe L.
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 15:18
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    First time I had heard (read) it used in that context, her masseuse ask her if she wanted a happy ending.
    – Jaksmack
    Commented May 26, 2015 at 22:30
  • A couple of stories spring to my mind - "The Pritcher Mass" by Gordon R Dickson and "The Far Call" by the same author. Not sure if the details fit for either exactly.
    – Covertwalrus
    Commented Jun 23, 2015 at 0:22

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Its been a lot of years, but this sounds alot like the beginning of Ring by Stephen Baxter though from what I remember, the lead up on Earth was fairly short lived, I do remember there being resistance to the Generation Ship project and some of your other details sound familiar.

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  • I don't think this is it - no "happy ending" massage, the words "Japan" and "Japanese" don't appear in the book at all.
    – Joe L.
    Commented May 27, 2015 at 12:31
  • Definitely not Ring, Stephen Baxter is one of my most favorite authors, but thanks for the suggestion.
    – Jaksmack
    Commented May 27, 2015 at 17:25
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The Quiet Pools by Michael P. Kube-McDowell.

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    Welcome to Sci-Fi and Fantasy SE! You should add some relevant material (e.g. quotes, synopsis) to save people the trouble of going places and finding out themselves.
    – Gallifreyan
    Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 7:12
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    Hello there, welcome to the SF & Fantasy Stack and thank you for your answer. Could you flesh it out a bit, perhaps adding a short synopsis to help the asker remember is this is indeed the book they are looking for? Oh, by the way, have you taken the tour yet?
    – SQB
    Commented Nov 29, 2016 at 9:14

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