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| Cover art by Vincent DiFate (per the HC) |
| MACROSCOPE Piers Anthony New York: Avon Books, October 1969 |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| ISBN-13 978-0-72211177-2 | ||||
| ISBN 0-72211177-0 | 480pp. | SC | $1.25 | |
Ivo Archer was uncomfortable, sitting in the government car speeding down Florida's Interstate 95. He had been on his own for some twenty years, ever since the Project ended. The only reason he was in the car was that the man driving it, space engineer Harold Groton, had proved the summons came from Ivo's friend Brad Carpenter. And that, he realized, could only mean the Macroscope — the premier scientific instrument of the day. A genius like Brad would be nowhere else.
The macroscope was the most expensive, important device ever put into space by man. The project had been financed and staffed internationally as research in the public interest: meaning that while no single government had cared to expend such considerable resources on such a farfeteched speculation, none could afford to leave the potential benefits entirely to others. Compromise had accomplished mighty things. The macroscope was functioning, and each participant was entitled to a share of its use in proportion to the investment, and a similar weighted share of all information obtained. That was most of what Ivo knew about it; exactly what hours fell to whom was classified information. Much of the result was general: details of astronomic research that had the astronomers gaping. The scope, it seemed, ground out exceeding fine pictures. Much was concealed from the common man, but the awe this instrument nevertheless inspired was universal. – Pages 25-26 |
That actually understates its importance. The Macroscope, to put it simply, is to knowledge as flypaper is to flies. It uses what Anthony calls macrons, which are electromagnetic radiation but behave somewhat like neutrinos: they can travel essentially unlimited distances. However, unlike neutrinos, they interact readily with matter in the presence of light, and anyone who can detect them can tune in on the universe (or at least the local galaxy.) The macroscope is like a radio telescope, only better: these natural macronic signals can be used to observe the physical makeup of other solar systems and of any life upon them; or, with control fine enough, criminals making deals and starlets taking showers. (This last ability is why Brad Carpenter nicknamed the Macroscope "S D P S.")
In addition, advanced races have learned to modulate the macronic flux and, good-hearted aliens that they are, use the technique to broadcast the entire contents of their libraries. This of course represents a treasure trove anyone can tap once they learn to capture macrons. However, there is a fly in the ointment: Overlying all the artificial channels the Macroscope can intercept is a signal that destroys any mind smart enough to make use of that flood of knowledge. In effect it taps into and amplifies the aggressive impulses in a brain until the positive feedback burns out that brain.
This is humanity's dilemma at the moment, and the reason Ivo Archer is brought in. He, alone of all the billions of people on Earth, can call on Schön, the most brilliant mind the planet has ever sired. If Schön cannot solve the problem, it cannot be solved. But summoning Schön is a matter of some delicacy. The reason for that is something I'll leave you to discover.
The most distinctive aspect of this novel's plot is how much it depends on astrology for its resolution. That the horoscopes appearing in daily newspapers across the nation are pure hokum is clear, and Anthony leaves no doubt that he so regards them. Yet he has gone to great lengths (as the acknowledgements reveal) to research the subject and learn its terminology.
From my perspective, astrology resembles the UFO phenomenon. Thinking the stars control our destinies is as absurd as thinking alien spaceships buzz our planet in droves; yet something causes all those sightings, even if it's only a quirk of human nature. Likewise, the broad general tendency of personality types to correspond to signs of the zodiac indicates that there may be something there that science has not yet explained.
There is high-tech adventure aplenty in these pages.
They were participating in superscience: Type III technology. None of them comprehended more than a fraction of it. But, by accident or cosmic design, they were the team that could do the job, with the overwhelming assistance of the supervising programs from space. The first crude waldoes had given way to tremendous mechanical beasts that roved Triton as though the human element had been dispatched, and computers superior to the one the macroscope employed were now in routine service—but the incentive lay with the human component. *
* * The action became impersonal, for the project was much larger than they were, and the entire group had become merely the implementing agency. Yet Ivo watched what was happening and took pride in it, and he was sure the others did too. He knew that though Earth had largely forgotten their spectacular theft—the news had leaked out, making them momentarily infamous—the completion of their effort would leave the Earth-based astronomers and physicists gaping. – Pages 251-2 |
And the author manages to throw in a good bit of swashbuckling as well — with a thoroughly plausible justification. That, plus highly imaginative devices and situations, well-drawn major characters and interactions, and a genuine technical/philosophical dilemma, make this novel one of Piers Anthony's best. Top marks, and I consider it a keeper.
To contact Chris Winter, send email to this address.