ࡱ> NPM7 CbjbjUU .Z7|7|?l <~$4 T2##8 p.*N0~,SEEKER a novel of Jack McDevitts universe of Alex Benedict and Chase Kolpath As with most Jack McDevitt novels this consists of a Prologue and a main body. SPOILER WARNING DO NOT READ THIS CRITIQUE UNLESS NOT INTENDING TO READ THE NOVEL OR DO NOT CARE THAT KNOW VITAL PLOT DETAILS BEFORE READ BOOK [not that the book isnt very predictable anyway, and so not giving away much]. Note: the two main protagonists are Alex Benedict, owner of Rainbow Enterprises, which is an antiques business, and his beautiful assistant Chase Kolpath, a former Survey pilot (for 2 years) [who is his pilot, social director, and sole employee has the title of executive assistant]. PROLOGUE It is the year 1398, Rimway Calendar [about 90 centuries in our future]. A ski chalets patrons have been given an avalanche warning to stay in chalet however, as well as the avalanche an earthquake occurs that collapses the chalet killing hundreds of people. Robert Wescott and his wife Margaret, ex-Survey employees/explorers are amongst those killed. Their 8 yo daughter Delia survives as she was elsewhere. The ship they used to perform their survey service missions was called the Falcon [like in The Maltese Falcon ho,ho, good in-joke NOT]. Whilst on one of their missions they discovered a missing ship (& more) and decided to keep it secret; then when they retired from the service then privately kept looking. They brought back a number of items from the ship, the Seeker, including a coffee mug [this is the item that starts the heroes on this adventure]. POINTS ARISING inferior construction materials/techniques in the Chalet, and lack of any sort of augmentation of humans to make them more resistant to wounds. MAIN BODY 1429, THIRTY-ONE YEARS LATER CHAPTER ONE Alex and Chase (who is narrator of main body; the prologue is from typical omniscient observer viewpoint) are on a looting recovery mission at an abandoned, lost observatory station on a moon of a gas giant. The station is an outstation (the third known) of the Celians [a human offshoot society that several centuries before (actually 6 centuries, at which time they had apparently abandoned the observatory base) had had a social collapse resulting in needing help from the Pact (a multiplanetary org); now belong along with other human planets to the Confederacy]. It is typical of the Chaseverse that locations of previous stations,etc have to be found by intensive research [by Alex (funny that no professional archaeologists havent done this research)]. Alex makes his living by trading and selling artifacts, and occasionally finding lost sites himself. The heroes ship is the Belle-Marie, and when they arrive at the Celian base they discover someone has just beat them to it and cleared out almost everything of value. CHAPTER TWO Winetta Yashevik (Windy) is archaeological liasion and public relations chief at Survey, and Chases friend. Louis Ponzio is the director. Fenn Redfield, Alexs old police buddy xxxxxxxxxxxx Blue Moon Action [manager Ms. Goldcress] has the Celian artifacts; acting as agents for the owner, for sale. Later Ollie Bolton is their main suspect for the Celian coup and also later activities against them. Next morning at their office Chase responds to a videocall from Amy Kolmer, an ordinary young woman who has a ceramic cup given to her by her former boyfriend (Cleve Hap Plotsky). The cup has an eagle emblem on it and some writing that is not in the Standard alphabet, and on its other side a ringed globe and and two inscriptions in the same strange alphabet. The office AI, Jacob, identifies the strange writing as English, Mid-American, of the Third Millennium, and reveals nobody spoke English in the Fourth Millennium. The cup maybe 9000 years old. Chase arranges for Amy to visit with the cup so that Alex can study it. Jacob assesses the cup as dating from 2600 200 years C.E., and translates the wording: A banner saying New World Coming. A designator IFR171, and a word he is not sure of. Jacob states IFR probably stands for Interstellar Fleet Registry. Alex states that unknown word is probably the ships name, and then Jacob says it translates as Searcher or Explorer. A number of points arise from this English business. What is the name of their language? Standard?? The book is in English, and the characters have very anglo names. Query: when Jacob gives this meaning for IFR does he state it in English or their future language?! How come the AI one minute says it doesnt know what the word is, and then gives a translation?! What kind of a language have they got that Searcher, Seeker and Explorer can all be the same word?! CHAPTER THREE The Third Millennium was a long time ago, and the record is notoriously incomplete. We know who the political leaders were, we know when and how the wars started (if not always why), we know the principal artists, literary movements, religious conflicts.We know which nation threatened to do what to whom. But weve little idea what peoples lives were like, how they spent their time, what they really thought about the world in which they lived. Nine thousand years is a long time. And nobody except a few historians really thinks much about it. The above is only a beginning to the retarded statements about the past. Incidentally, re the statement about historians two points: this is like saying todays people arent interested in the Roman Empire. as we find out later there is contradiction of this viewpoint. They consult an assistant professor at Barcross University, Shepard Marquand, an expert on the Third Millennium. Also Chase does some virtual tours of some museums, and there is a coin a 2006 US coin, that data display says is the second-oldest coin in existence. What museum is this coin actually in? What about all the ancient coins of Earth? Chase gets a call from the prof to visit him he has NEWS. He tells her the correct translation is Seeker. Chase has never heard of the Seeker NOR of the Margolians. They left Earth in 3rd Millennium, and are a lost colony. However, she then does remember: Atlantis. Intava. Margolia. Light dawned. theyre a myth, arent they? How could they remember Atlantis? Remember they have lost most of history very careless. So its a famous ship? But she hasnt heard of it well, there have been many famous ships ordinary people havent heard of, but she is an ex-Survey pilot and antiquarian PLUS Seeker isnt an ordinary seaship (of which a massive number have existed) but an interstellar spaceship, one of few early such ships, and as we find out later should be well known. The Seeker left Earth December 27, 2688, carrying approximately 900 people. Two years later they were back, and took off another 900. There was a third trip as well, wasnt there? I was beginning to remember the story. Yes. The other ship was the Bremerhaven. They made three flights each. Harry Williams, leader of the Margolians, was branded an atheist and was an agnostic. Query: What religion do the future people have no mention. SIDENOTE: this brings up another issue a number of interstellar colonies were established in the 3rd Millennium did they all lose their historical records from Earth?! Also, how come they all lost English (or other Earth languages they had) and adopted Standard as sole language?! P42 No original audio recordings remained from the period, nobody knew for certain what it (English) had actually sounded like. But linguists have phonetic alphabets, and how do you lose all of a major language and all its speakers?! Okay, its 9000 years in future so English probably wouldnt exist (except remember the quote above about We know who the political leaders were, artists, literature movements, etc would have to remember some of the language). P43 Margolia had been the subject of several sims. Jacob showed me one. It was titled Invader, and had been produced less than a year earlier. My bolding. So Chase first doesnt recall Margolia, then remembers it as a myth, but now finds it is a subject of recent popular entertainment. Then on p75 in Chapter 6, there are books dealing with the Margolians and their flight from Earth such as The Golden Lamp [query this book is in Standard apparently, but would have had to use English or other forgotten language sources]. P47 We learn name of Amys boyfriend, that I inserted above, and that he is a burglar. He also has a sister who works on a space station. CHAPTER SIX It is learnt that Rilby Rile Plotsky, Hals father was also a burglar and stole the cup from the Wescott house whilst they (Adam & Margaret) were still alive, and when Delia was 7 (ie in 1397) ; house now owned by Delia Cable (nee Wescott). The cup was not the only item the Wescotts brought back they brought back also a number of other items (we find out later what they were) that Delias aunt Melisa came into possession of (after death of Wescotts) and eventually junked. The Wescotts were so stupid as not to make provision for the circumstance of their death or disappearance, as to leave info about their discovery. The Wescotts left Survey in 1392, when Delia was 2; and then went on a number of private flights (taking Delia on some of them) P78 We learn that humans encountered an alien race known as the Ashiyyur or more popularly Mutes [year of first contact not given]. This race is not mentioned in Polaris, yet it is apparently the only alien race humans have encountered and there have even been wars between humans and mutes. CHAPTER SEVEN P84 Survey is so slack, that it doesnt confirm log record of missions. P93 In 1390s there was only one company on Rimway that leased superluminals StarDrive, but it had since crashed (21 years ago). So where do people who do not own their own spaceships obtain one for a trip? There are passenger lines and many private and corporate ships, so some of these should be leased vessels or become on sale used as rental vessels. Rimway is the capital world of the Confederacy; and no equivalent of car hire?! Technically, the wording suggests the possibility that other companies may be doing the business that StarDrive used to do, but dont bank on it incredible coincidence. Anyway, this planet has been settled for thousands of years, and only had one starship hire company 31 years before. StarDrive had a fleet of 9 ships at time they closed in 1408. CHAPTER EIGHT [Query which building was destroyed in Polaris???] p101 Shara Michaels, an astrophysicist and longtime friend of Chase, gives Chase a briefing about stellar collisions, that Chase should already know what training do Survey pilots get?! This society sure wipes its records after just a short time. Chase watches a 30 year old thriller about the lost colony (Margolia); that apparently is one of the Sky Jordan adventures which were hugely popular in their time. [only 30 years before!!] Sky was played throughout that long series by Jason Holcombe, who always struck me as the sexiest leading man in the business. With this opinion, she hasnt watched his series?! CHAPTER NINE Amy arrives at Chases place, but Hap has followed her. Hal has a small device that shuts down all electrical and electronic systems!!! [remember this is a not too bright minor burglar if he has such a device then they would be common and a countermeasure would have quickly been developed in any logically realistic universe]. He breaks in using a sledgehammer why not a laser? It would be nice if there was an automatic anti-intruder system (immune to the miracle device) or she had a mobile phone to call the police she does have a link that seems pretty similar and it still works, so does Chase use it to phone police? No, she gives it to Amy & tells her to go in bedroom & phone police! She has a weapon but left it on the roof in her skimmer careless. The villain has a flashlight that also works. Amy didnt phone the police, and she tells Hap this!! Hap should watch more sims as he gets spooked by the holographic monster. Its clever in terms of story, but doesnt really hold up in terms of the tech of their society people should be used to holograms. CHAPTER TEN P124 this is a conversation between Chase and a friend of Mrs Wescott (Mattie Clendennon): Chase: What did they find? I asked. Mattie: Dont you know? Chase: No. I know there was a discovery. Im not sure what it was. Did they find Margolia? Mattie: They found the Seeker. Cjhase: The Seeker. Mattie: Yes P127 Chase visits Delia who has another Seeker item to show her a shirt. She tells Chase that Melisa remembers there was other stuff clothes, boots, electronic gear, data disks; she kept them for a few years then turfed them. Technically, Id say that they belonged more to Delia than to Melisa [as were Delias parents property (even if looted by them)] so this was unethical of Melisa, apart from being typical of the stupidity of people in the Chaseverse. Apparently some people enjoy reading a novel with such stupid characters [see quote on back of book from Locus]. P128 On the way home, I watched Insertion, the classic horror show in which superphysical emotionless humans from Margolia have infiltrated the Confederacy. If youve seen it, you havent forgotten the desperate chase Now admittedly Chase could be addressing the readers of her book about Margolia, but the movie itself was made, and watched by Chase, prior to Margolia gaining fame. CHAPTER ELEVEN The earliest serious efforts to settle other worlds had been made two hundred years before the Seeker and Bremerhaven flights. Theyd gone out to Sirius, and Groombridge, Epsilon Eridani, and 61 Cygni. But none of those early efforts had prospered. The colonies, theoretically self-supporting, encountered difficulties, weather cycles, viruses, crop failures, for which they were unable to make adjustments. Technological assistance from the home world, at first steady, became sporadic, and eventually went away. The survivors came home. WUSSES!! AND YOU DONT RETURN FROM THAT SORT OF JOURNEY, AS IT IS IMPRACTICAL. CHAPTER TWELVE p144 I found myself watching more sims inspired by the Margolian legend. In Tiger-Men of the Lost World . Vampire Below . The majority of books written on the subject werent serious. Most of the authors were true believers of one kind or another . The most popular theory by far was the demon star notion that had arisen shortly after the colonists had departed. Harry Williamss celebrated comment that they would travel so far that even God couldnt find them gained notoriety as depicting an antireligious spirit. So it seems that Chase was simply ignorant of all the material about Margolia. Also, with all this material the name of Seeker would be prominent. CHAPTER SIXTEEN They have advanced tech like clearance nanos but most of their tech, esp their spaceship tech is primitive [apart from Quantum drive]. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN They find the Seeker. It has had an accident in space. A hole near the drive area everyone on board is dead from instant air loss havent they heard of compartmentalisation? Id say yes, and it is totally unrealistic to depict that a hole at end of a big ship would evacuate air from all of ship it would need to have no rooms, just one big chamber. This doesnt fit descriptions of it having corridors, passageways and rooms. What happened with this review, like my reviews of other McDevitt books, is that I read the book (for enjoyment) to get a general impression, then I go through it making intensive notes. However, with the latter action I gave up after Chapter 17 of this book, so my detailed critique ends here hence why I have these little to find notes (& also a couple of times in the review highlighted sections entries that I didnt follow up on): To be added when it comes up Shara is an astrophysicist, so Windy has no reason to be disappointed in her going on the trip [although later we find out that maybe she does have a reason]. To also find the bit where he postulates a monster shows some imagination. Also shows that McDevitt would have been more suited to be a Golden Age SF writer, dealing with space monster adventures.  f m kxoz9 ; %#,#2#\#]$m$%&))-K-..%5+5<5B5777<<!<.<<>B>??W>X>h>>>?@@@@@@yAxByBB5C6CC,1h. 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