DOWNBELOW STATION

Cover by David B. Mattingly

When the warship Norway dropped out of hyperspace, inbound to the station at Pell's World, Captain Signy Mallory watched the scans and listened to the comm reports with apprehension. But soon she relaxed: no one was waiting to give her and her convoy hell. That was good news, because she had brought hell with her, on some of the ten freighters depending on her for protection. Hansford's life support systems were failing, and her passengers had begun tearing the ship apart in panic. Her crew, sealed in the control rooms, were trying desperately to hold things together for the four hours of final approach. Other freighters were filled with refugees, among them injured victims of Mariner station which had been blown apart by sabotage. Captain Mallory's command was indeed a ragtag fugitive fleet. She requested the stationmaster to evacuate and seal off a section for the refugees. She would brook no dissent, for excellent reasons. Stationmaster Konstantin had some excellent reasons to object — his life support systems had limits too — but Mallory's firepower nullified his objections.

The Company war had raged for longer than she had lived. But recently a change had occurred. Once, a certain chivalry held sway. Life capsules from a defeated enemy ship were brought aboard, the survivors granted passage to a first port of call from where they could travel where they would. No longer. Battles had turned vicious, policies relentless. Union, the government of the more distant stations, grew apace by agreement and conquest. Its resources outmatched those of the Earth Company, and its fleet was newer and larger. Totalitarian in flavor, it tended to achieve agreements that were nominal.

Certain individuals, aware of the changing balance of power, sought Union's favor. One such was Jon Lucas aboard Pell station. He snuck his agents aboard a freighter into Union territory bearing the credentials of Earth Company council. Their aim: to secure a peace by ceding all the stations beyond Pell to Union in return for safety on the older, inner stations.

The leaders of Pell station, meanwhile (unaware of this treason), struggle to cope with the refugees confined to a gang-dominated quarantine section and to expand their bases on the planet below to provide supplies for the excess population and to relieve some of the population pressure.

Midway through the book, a climactic non-battle happens. The explanation is that Captain Mazian, head of the diminished Earth Company Fleet (ten warships with four auxiliary vessels each), has embarked on a daring plan to seize Viking station in Union territory in a lightning raid by his entire command, a change from their solitary attrition actions. All vessels have jumped in to Viking space, properly timed and located. The advantage is theirs — but the Union flagship is there too, broadcasting the bogus announcement of agreement, with valid recognition codes provided by Lucas' traitors. Mazian sees at once what this means: Whether or not it is genuine, his only choice is to break off and fall back to Pell, which he can hope to hold as his base of supply. He loses one ship, Libya, in the process. Others are damaged, their complement of riders reduced.

Later the tides of battle wash back and forth across Pell's system; but, through luck and some residual forbearance on the part of the contending captains, they never crash over the station itself. In the end a new force arises to guarantee its neutrality: a pledge it is in every side's interest to honor, for Pell is the last functioning station outside Sol system, and vital to continued interstellar commerce.

Eventually this complex and jeopardy-filled novel arrives at a very happy ending — not an all-the-loose-ends-wrapped-up ending, and for sure not an everything-put-back-together ending — but still an ending that relieves the sense of impending doom hanging over Pell Station and portends, if not happiness, at least a period of safety and recovery. Downbelow Station is the core of Cherryh's five-volume epic of the Company Wars, that includes Rimrunners, already reviewed. It takes us through the centuries-long outward expansion that established the network of stations, the birth of Union as a small and distant competitor to Earth, and its burgeoning into a real threat. It is an excellent piece of work, but complex and crowded with characters; it must be read at one sitting to be fully appreciated.

There are some typos: a title not capitalized ("captain Mazian"); missing letters in three or four words; the word "bold" when "bolt" is meant, etc. But they are a mere handful, even for a book half this length. Full marks.

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This page was last modified on 2 September 2024.