Odyssey, Jack McDevitt, Ace Books, 2006
This far-future novel is about mankind's attempt to learn the truth behind mysterious lights in space called moonriders.
Space travel and industrialization just has not paid off the way humanity had hoped. The search for intelligent life has been disappointing. On Earth, there is a growing call to cut the space exploration budget, and focus on domestic issues, like global warming. In a last-ditch effort, the Academy puts together a mission to investigate moonriders, once and for all. The modern equivalent of UFOs, they have been seen by many, but no one has gotten a close look at them.
The mission takes on added urgency when an asteroid misses Earth by a whisker (in astronomical terms), and no one knew it was coming. A luxury hotel under construction orbiting a nearby planet is destroyed by another asteroid. Both incidents are blamed on moonriders. The mission, including the journalist leading the campaign to cut the space fleet, discovers that the incidents blamed on moonriders have a much more Earthly origin. They also see, up close and personal, that the moonriders are not to be trifled with, when they attack a supercollider, thousands of kilometers long, under construction many light years away.
Here is another gem of a story from McDevitt. It's an intelligent piece of space opera, it does a good job of combining ideas and action, and it is recommended.
Showing posts with label mcdevitt. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mcdevitt. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 6, 2012
Omega
Omega, Jack McDevitt, Ace Books, 2003
Set about 200 years from now, after mankind has begun to explore the galaxy, this novel is about deadly clouds of energy called omegas. Their purpose seesm to be to wipe out any civilization they encounter. The cloud won't reach Earth for another 900 years, so while research continues into what omegas are all about, it's someone else's problem. It becomes an immediate crisis when a survey ship reports that the cloud has turned, and is heading for a previously unexplored system. It just happens to contain a thriving pre-industrial civilization, and the cloud will arrive in a couple of months.
In many years of diligent searching, mankind has found a number of dead civilizations, but only two live ones, neither of which are interested in Contact with anyone. Saving this civilization suddenly becomes Top Priority. An exploration ship already in the area is able to sneak onto the surface, and the personnel plants many audio and video pickups, beaming language and customs to a ship full of linguists in transit. The ship, in bad need of an overhaul, is pressed into service too early, and breaks down before reaching the planet. A supply ship is able to join the exploration ship, and an attempt is made to fool with the planet's weather, hiding the cities under thick clouds. All other attempts to stop the cloud, or alter its course, fail.
For the humans already in orbit, how do they tell the inhabitants that they must immediately flee their cities? Who do they tell? Will their warnings be believed? How do they do it without violating the Noninterference Doctrine?
This story is well done from beginning to end. As usual with McDevitt, it has good characters, and has few, if any, wasted words. It does a fine job of keeping the reader's attention.
Set about 200 years from now, after mankind has begun to explore the galaxy, this novel is about deadly clouds of energy called omegas. Their purpose seesm to be to wipe out any civilization they encounter. The cloud won't reach Earth for another 900 years, so while research continues into what omegas are all about, it's someone else's problem. It becomes an immediate crisis when a survey ship reports that the cloud has turned, and is heading for a previously unexplored system. It just happens to contain a thriving pre-industrial civilization, and the cloud will arrive in a couple of months.
In many years of diligent searching, mankind has found a number of dead civilizations, but only two live ones, neither of which are interested in Contact with anyone. Saving this civilization suddenly becomes Top Priority. An exploration ship already in the area is able to sneak onto the surface, and the personnel plants many audio and video pickups, beaming language and customs to a ship full of linguists in transit. The ship, in bad need of an overhaul, is pressed into service too early, and breaks down before reaching the planet. A supply ship is able to join the exploration ship, and an attempt is made to fool with the planet's weather, hiding the cities under thick clouds. All other attempts to stop the cloud, or alter its course, fail.
For the humans already in orbit, how do they tell the inhabitants that they must immediately flee their cities? Who do they tell? Will their warnings be believed? How do they do it without violating the Noninterference Doctrine?
This story is well done from beginning to end. As usual with McDevitt, it has good characters, and has few, if any, wasted words. It does a fine job of keeping the reader's attention.
Monday, October 29, 2012
Polaris
Polaris, Jack McDevitt, Ace Books, 2004
Set in the far future, the spaceship Polaris takes a group of rich passengers thousands of light years away to watch the destruction of a sun by another star. The ship never returns. The nearest rescue ship reaches it six days later to find the ship undamaged, but drifting...and deserted. The destruction of the sun wiped out any planets or moons that could have sheltered the ship's passengers.
Nearly sixty years later, the ship has become a legend. The fate of the crew has been the subject of books, TV documentaries and even a yearly convention, which brings forth all sorts of theories. Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict, and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, manage to acquire a few personal items that came from the ship, for their rich clients, just before the rest of the collection is destroyed in a mysterious explosion. The clients report visits from equally mysterious people who want to buy the items for astronomical sums of money. A couple of high-tech assassination attempts convince Alex and Chase that this is not just another rich collector at work. Someone is looking for something among the Polaris items, and that someone knows just what happened to its passengers.
As Alex and Chase get closer to the truth, it becomes clear that everything revolves around a scientific breakthrough made by one of the passengers. A method had been found to not just stop the aging process, but actually reverse it. At minimum, this would force radical changes on humanity, including, for instance, a near ban on any new births.
This is another well-done piece of writing from McDevitt. It is nice and thought-provoking, along with being a really good mystery.
Set in the far future, the spaceship Polaris takes a group of rich passengers thousands of light years away to watch the destruction of a sun by another star. The ship never returns. The nearest rescue ship reaches it six days later to find the ship undamaged, but drifting...and deserted. The destruction of the sun wiped out any planets or moons that could have sheltered the ship's passengers.
Nearly sixty years later, the ship has become a legend. The fate of the crew has been the subject of books, TV documentaries and even a yearly convention, which brings forth all sorts of theories. Antiquities dealer Alex Benedict, and his assistant, Chase Kolpath, manage to acquire a few personal items that came from the ship, for their rich clients, just before the rest of the collection is destroyed in a mysterious explosion. The clients report visits from equally mysterious people who want to buy the items for astronomical sums of money. A couple of high-tech assassination attempts convince Alex and Chase that this is not just another rich collector at work. Someone is looking for something among the Polaris items, and that someone knows just what happened to its passengers.
As Alex and Chase get closer to the truth, it becomes clear that everything revolves around a scientific breakthrough made by one of the passengers. A method had been found to not just stop the aging process, but actually reverse it. At minimum, this would force radical changes on humanity, including, for instance, a near ban on any new births.
This is another well-done piece of writing from McDevitt. It is nice and thought-provoking, along with being a really good mystery.
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Chindi
Chindi, Jack McDevitt, Ace Books, 2002
A couple of hundred years from now, a routine survey mission to a neutron star picks up a few seconds of what seems like a transmission of alien origin. The reception wasn't long enough to determine where it came from or where it was going. The next step for the neutron star is to turn into a black hole, so there shouldn�t be anyone or anything in the vicinity. After probes again pick up the signal, a special mission is sent from Earth to investigate.
With pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchinson, the crew are not the usual scientist types, but members of the Contact Society, a group of rich people who fund research into extraterrestrial life. This is important because after 200 years of diligent searching for other civilizations, the results have been very disappointing. Following the signal from one star system to another, the humans find the same type of stealth satellites in orbit around various planets. Even by the standards of interstellar distances, this is a huge relay system. Attempts by companion ships to bring one aboard to study end in disaster.
The crew encounters a planet inhabited by humanoids with wings, who bear a striking resemblance to angels. Hutch is the only one who thinks that landing and establishing contact with the natives is not such a good idea. The "angels" show themselves to be uninterested in contact when they attack the humans with claws and sharp teeth, killing two of them.
Around another planet, the humans find a giant asteroid which is actually an alien spaceship. After much exploration, they determine that it is some sort of automated archaeological survey ship, picking up bits of other cultures from throughout the galaxy. The satellites signal when a culture is sufficiently advanced to warrant a visit.
This is a gem of a book. It's nice and mind-blowing, the author does a fine job throughout, and the science is kept to reasonable levels.
A couple of hundred years from now, a routine survey mission to a neutron star picks up a few seconds of what seems like a transmission of alien origin. The reception wasn't long enough to determine where it came from or where it was going. The next step for the neutron star is to turn into a black hole, so there shouldn�t be anyone or anything in the vicinity. After probes again pick up the signal, a special mission is sent from Earth to investigate.
With pilot Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchinson, the crew are not the usual scientist types, but members of the Contact Society, a group of rich people who fund research into extraterrestrial life. This is important because after 200 years of diligent searching for other civilizations, the results have been very disappointing. Following the signal from one star system to another, the humans find the same type of stealth satellites in orbit around various planets. Even by the standards of interstellar distances, this is a huge relay system. Attempts by companion ships to bring one aboard to study end in disaster.
The crew encounters a planet inhabited by humanoids with wings, who bear a striking resemblance to angels. Hutch is the only one who thinks that landing and establishing contact with the natives is not such a good idea. The "angels" show themselves to be uninterested in contact when they attack the humans with claws and sharp teeth, killing two of them.
Around another planet, the humans find a giant asteroid which is actually an alien spaceship. After much exploration, they determine that it is some sort of automated archaeological survey ship, picking up bits of other cultures from throughout the galaxy. The satellites signal when a culture is sufficiently advanced to warrant a visit.
This is a gem of a book. It's nice and mind-blowing, the author does a fine job throughout, and the science is kept to reasonable levels.
Saturday, May 26, 2012
Ancient Shores
Ancient Shores, Jack McDevitt, Harper Prism, 1996
This is the science fiction story of a North Dakota wheat farmer, who, one day, finds a triangular piece of metal sticking out of the ground. He kepps digging, and digging, and finds a 45-foot yacht buried in his wheat field. It's in good enough condition to look like it was buried last week, but has actually been there a lot longer, and is made of materials unknown to human science.
The area quickly becomes a full-fledged media spectacle. After further digging, a large roundhouse, that glows at night, is unearthed. Inside are portals to several other worlds, one of which is christened Eden. By this time, the area, which is on Indian land, has become a magnet for religious fundamentalists, thrill seekers, legitimate scientists, and UFO believers. Several unsuccessful attempts are made by private companies to buy the site. Meantime, in the rest of the world, financial markets are in free fall, fearing new technologies from the site that will give new meaning to the words "lifetime guarantee". At the end is an attempt by the government to unilaterally seize the site, intending to limit, or deny, all further access.
This is a really interesting and easy to read story that works from start to finish. It's very much grounded in reality, and is an all around great story.
This is the science fiction story of a North Dakota wheat farmer, who, one day, finds a triangular piece of metal sticking out of the ground. He kepps digging, and digging, and finds a 45-foot yacht buried in his wheat field. It's in good enough condition to look like it was buried last week, but has actually been there a lot longer, and is made of materials unknown to human science.
The area quickly becomes a full-fledged media spectacle. After further digging, a large roundhouse, that glows at night, is unearthed. Inside are portals to several other worlds, one of which is christened Eden. By this time, the area, which is on Indian land, has become a magnet for religious fundamentalists, thrill seekers, legitimate scientists, and UFO believers. Several unsuccessful attempts are made by private companies to buy the site. Meantime, in the rest of the world, financial markets are in free fall, fearing new technologies from the site that will give new meaning to the words "lifetime guarantee". At the end is an attempt by the government to unilaterally seize the site, intending to limit, or deny, all further access.
This is a really interesting and easy to read story that works from start to finish. It's very much grounded in reality, and is an all around great story.
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