Startide Rising

Startide Rising is a science fiction novel by the American writer David Brin, published in 1983 and the second book in his Uplift Universe.

In Brin's galaxy, intelligence is not something a species acquires by itself: it is conferred, and the species that confers it becomes a patron with claims on its client. Humans have uplifted dolphins and chimpanzees, and nobody is certain who uplifted humans, which is one reason Earthclan is unpopular. The crew of the Streaker finds the derelict fleet of the Progenitors, the legendary first race, and that discovery makes them the most wanted ship in known space. The novel alternates between the bridge, where the dolphins have to hold a damaged vessel together and demonstrate that the uplift was worth doing, and the mutiny and politics below decks.

The book won both the Hugo and Nebula Awards, and the author revised it a decade later to correct errors in the first printing. It served as the seed for three further novels about the crew of the Streaker.