| THE GENESIS MACHINE James P. Hogan |
Rating: 5.0 High |
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| New York: Ballantine Books, 1978 | ISBN 0-345-27231-5 | 299pp | SC | $1.75 | |
Physicist Bradley Clifford, expanding on the Unified Field Theory work of Herr Doktor Carl Maesanger, had developed a ground-breaking theory about particle physics. But his work at the defense contractor ACRE, somewhere in the desert Southwest, permitted him little time to continue the development — and no chance at all to publish. Being the archetypical pure scientist, Brad chafed at this restriction. Finally he decided to do the next best thing. He covertly sent a copy of his paper to Heinrich Zimmerman, head of the Joliet-Curie Observatory on the far side of the Moon. Fairly soon, things began to break loose.
But they didn't break entirely Brad's way. He found some satisfaction when, out of the blue, an experimenter at Berkeley named Aubrey Phillipsz1 contacted him with data confirming one of his ideas. But the bureaucracy kept grinding him until one day he just walked out.
Things were looking grim. Not only had Brad trashed his chances at ACRE, but every government science job would now be off limits to him. It was about this time when the free-spirited Aub turned up on his doorstep, having also told his boss to "Take this job and shove it" — and for much the same reasons. Fortunately, Brad's wife Sarah had an inspiration: they should contact Zimmerman. An influential figure in the privately funded ISF (International Science Foundation), he might be able to steer them to suitable employment.
That's how it turns out. Brad and Aub wind up at ISF's lab in Sudbury, Massachusetts. There, for a time, they quietly achieve momentous results. But word inevitably leaks out, and the defense establishment that has been trying to turn Brad's theory into a weapon — and failing without his insights — reaches out for him again. First, Sudbury is unable to obtain parts from suppliers. They are forced to turn to the government, reluctantly agreeing to its terms. But as the world inches closer to war, the government grows impatient. Harried beyond endurance, Brad comes to a stark decision. One night's work demonstrates that the energy they've been working with can be focused into a small area at any point on Earth, instead of spreading out across the cosmos as it normally would. Ramped up in magnitude, this would be an unstoppable weapon.
"C'mon, it wasn't that risky and you know it," Clifford taunted. "If it wasn't unity, the detectors would have spotted an excess long before we wound the power up. There was no hazard really." "Okay, you've made your point. We've proved we can focus the return energy. Now what?" At once Clifford's grin snapped off and his mood became serious. "Tomorrow we talk to Al and Peter and put them in the picture," he said. "It doesn't matter now if there's hell to pay because this is rapidly going to become a lot bigger than both of them. What Peter has to do is get in touch with Washington and fix us an appointment as soon as he can with Foreshaw and his merry men." He leaned across and slapped Aub on the shoulder. "You keep telling me I have to be a salesman, my friend. Okay—I, or, rather, we, are going to make the most mind-blowing sale ever. No salesman ever walked into the Pentagon with anything like what we've got. They want bombs? We are going to give them a bigger damn bomb than they've ever dreamed of!" |
– pages 218-219 |
Of course the Pentagon buys in. Clifford and Aub oversee the building of a third-generation system, with a Mark III targeting sensor, sophisticated computers to control it all, and triple-redundant fusion generators to provide the input energy along with auxiliary power to run everything for years. Those in the know refer to it as the J-bomb. It's all deep underground for protection, of course, and able to be sealed off to operate without intervention from outside. As the hostile alliance (call it EastAsia) moves from brushfire wars to full-scale invasion, Clifford unleashes the J-bomb. It works as designed — but according to whose design?
This novel is different from the ones by Hogan I'm familiar with: The five Giants novels and Code of the Lifemaker. It's more serious, and I believe it gets closer to Hogan's private beliefs about our crass, bellicose society. Despite a few passages that lay on the exposition a little too heavily, it's a fun and engrossing read. Full marks.
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