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Tuesday, January 22, 2013
Reading List: All Judgment Fled
- White, James.
All Judgment Fled.
New York: Ballantine, 1969.
was a science fiction author, fan, and fanzine editor in
Northern Ireland. Although he published 19 novels and numerous
short stories, he never quit his day job to become a
professional writer: apart from a few superstar authors,
science fiction just didn't pay that much in the 1950s and
'60s. White was originally attracted to science fiction
by the work of
and Robert Heinlein, and his fiction continues very much in the
Golden Age tradition of hard science fiction they helped establish.
In the 1960s, one of the criticisms of science fiction by
“new wave” authors was that it had become too
obsessed with hardware and conflict, and did not explore
the psyche of its characters or the cultures they
inhabited. In this book, the author tells a story in
the mainstream of the hard science fiction genre, but puts
the psychology of the characters on centre stage.
Starting with a little smudge of light on an astronomer's
time exposure, follow-up observations determine the
object was maneuvering and hence could not be an asteroid.
It settles into an orbit 12 million miles outside that of
Mars. Spectral analysis reveals it to be highly reflective,
probably metal. A Jupiter probe is diverted to fly by
the object, and returns grainy images of a torpedo-shaped
structure about half a mile in length. Around the world,
it is immediately dubbed the Ship.
After entering solar orbit, the Ship does nothing:
it neither maneuvers nor emits signals detectable
by sensors of any kind. It remains a complete enigma, but
one of epochal importance to a humanity just taking its
first steps into its own solar system: a civilisation capable
of interstellar travel was obviously so far beyond the
technological capability of mankind that contact with it
could change everything in human history, and were that
contact to end badly, ring down the curtain on its existence.
Two ships, built to establish a base and observatory on the
Martian moon Deimos, are re-purposed to examine the Ship at
close range and, should the opportunity present itself,
make contact with its inhabitants. The crew of six, divided
between the two ships, are a mix of square-jawed military astronaut
types and woolier scientists, including a lone psychologist
who finds himself having to master the complexity of dynamics
among the crew, their relations with distant Prometheus Control
on Earth which seems increasingly disconnected
in its estimation of the situation they are experiencing
first hand and delusional in their orders for dealing with it, and the
ultimate challenge of comprehending the psychology of spacefaring
extraterrestrials in order to communicate with them.
Upon arrival at the Ship, the mystery only deepens. Not only is
there no reaction to their close range approach to the Ship,
when an exploration party boards it, they find technology
which looks comparable to that of humans, no evidence of an
intelligent life form directing the ship, but multitudes of
aliens as seemingly mindless as sharks bent on killing them.
Puzzling out this enigma requires the crew to explore the
Ship, deal with Prometheus Control as an adversary, manage
the public relations impact of their actions on a global
audience on Earth who are watching their every move, and deal
with the hazards of a totally alien technology.
This is a throughly satisfying story of first contact (although
as the pages count down toward the end, you'll find yourself
wondering if, and when, that will actually happen). It is not
great science fiction up to the standard of Doc Smith or
Heinlein, but it is very good. The “Personnel Launcher”
is one of the more remarkable concepts of transferring
crew between ships en-route I've encountered. Readers at this
remove may find the author's taking psychology and psychotherapy
so seriously rather quaint. But recall that through much of
the 1960s, even the theories of the charlatan Freud were widely
accepted by people who should have known better, and the racket
of psychoanalysis was prospering. Today we'd just give 'em a pill.
Are we wiser, or were they?
This work is out of print, but used copies are generally
available. The book was reprinted in 1979 by
Del Rey and again in 1996 by Old Earth Books. If you're
looking for a copy to read (as opposed to a collectible),
it's best to
by author and title
and choose the best deal based on price and condition. The novel
was originally serialised in If Magazine in 1967.
Update: New reprint copies of the original UK hardcover edition remain available directly from Old Earth Books. (2013-01-25 20:16 UTC)