Isso é " Os motores do amanhecer "por Paul Cook
Por revisão de livros da Amazon;
The story is set on a spaceship that functions as a traveling university. (gee, let's count how many times has this idea been used? at least a dozen) Humanity is stagnant as a result of alien influence. They let us use their stardrives but not to understand or handle them. (see for example Jack Vance - The five gold bands; 1980) No advances in science and the population is declining. Yet on this university/spaceship there are three (yes 3) different types of human FTL drive prototypes.
Then the alien drive breaks down. It will take two weeks for a replacement to arrive. What does the ship's captain (responsible for thousands of students and staff) do? Yes, he decides to try out one of these prototypes. (absolutely no reason, the ship is in no immediate danger) The editorial staff of the student newspaper are called "comrades" (well, I've always suspected). The robots are called "deadmen"