"Richter 10" (novel): Taming the earthquakes

First half of this book is outstanding; next quarter is good; last quarter is positively lousy, & completely unrelated to rest of the story.

The most irritating thing I find in all Clarkian novels - the tendency to spend a lot of time on threads totally unrelated to main story - is here in full glory. In spite of this, I have no hesitation in calling the first half the best among all Clarkian novels I have reviewed to date (current one is #17).

This story is actually not written by Clarke. It was written by late Mike McQuay to outline provided by Clarke - in a manner similar to Rama sequels.

Story summary (spoiler).

The story spans the lifetime of the main protagonist, Lewis Crane, beginning late 20th century.

There are three memorable scenes in the story, all in first half: a little boy rendered a cripple & an orphan by an earthquake in US; a callous administration letting an entire village die unnecessarily in Japan; & unscrupulous politicians & businessmen letting thousands die unnecessarily in big quake in US. Each of these scenes borders on horror, & yet there is a lot of optimism.

First scene introduces the hero, Lewis Crane. In a milder, but still very moving, variant of similar opener in Jean Auel's "The Clan of Cave Bear", the little boy loses use one arm, his parents, & his house in an earthquake in California.

Next we encounter Crane as an adult, world's foremost expert on earthquakes, a Nobel laureate, a top grade entrepreneur, & founder of the Foundation - his research organization. And now finally ready with his first big earthquake prediction months in advance - at a Japanese island called Sodo. The quake will destroy most of the island, & one entire inhabited village called Aikawa.

Only trouble is: no one believes Crane. Villagers & local government are unhappy because this prediction has ruined tourist traffic. Crane has collected world media for the event at a small spot on the island that will survive, & but a lot of media is covering the event from air.

And here we get the second big scene. Mayor arrives with cops to arrest Crane & deport him because they see him as scaremonger. That is when the quake hits. Everything is to prediction. When the dust settles, the village is a beach.

Crane is now a celebrity & harbinger of the evil. That is when he decides to raise funds for his bigger & super secret project: banish quakes by stopping all tectonic activity - by fusing together the plates comprising earth's crust at strategic places, about 50 locations in all. Using atomic bombs in a way that will direct their power towards earth's core, without any damage to surface.

Next major scene is a big quake prediction in some parts of the US bordering Mississippi river; in between, we have seen Crane directing rescue at a volcano (Pelee) affected island (Martinique) in the Mediterranean - but that was a minor thread. Only problem is: elections are soon due, & someone has figured a way to benefit from the quake. In a bizarre twist, field data of Foundation is intercepted & forged by the villain. Result is: Crane prediction is too soon by a few months. Crane loses credibility.

When Crane figures out the reason, & the fact that quack is still coming, there is a problem in communication - he needs to get credibility. Enter Harry Whetstone, his billionaire benefactor & friend. He convinces Harry to bet most of his $3b wealth on his prediction. And our friends go public with a wager: at 2:1 odds, our friends offer wagers of $50 each that quake will happen on new date. Wager is quickly lapped up.

Come D-day. Government is publicly denying any quake possibility. Public is against our friends, though there are sympathizers. In a relief camp set up at a safe location near to-be-worst-affected areas, Crane & his benefactor are arrested.

Of course, the quake hits as predicted. Our friends are on the scene directing relief. Crane emerges larger than life after the event. He has returned the $3b borrowed from friend, & now has enough money for his Foundation from the won wager that he no longer need depend on any external sources.

To kickstart his big project - the fusing of tectonic plates, Crane has some help from earth. About 20 years down, there will be a quake that will split much of California from rest of US, & make it a Pacific island. With widespread loss of life & property. And this event can be avoided - by putting the first "spot weld" joint somewhere in western US that will also substantially cut down the number of quakes worldwide.

He enlists political support, sets up a secure facility on the lines of US bomb making project in 1940s.

Rest of the story, about a quarter of the book, is bizarre - to say the least. And second rate, at least to me. And links with many tangent threads that have already been introduced into the story.

Falling apart of Crane with his main technical man Dan; Dan joining a muslim fundamentalist organization; terrorist attack on the secure facility that destroys the facility & kills Crane's wife & child; formation of an Islamic state within US. And introduction of more tangent threads - creation of a colony on moon, & their mining of water from permafrost on Mars rather than from Earth!

Among the other tangent threads in the story are: Middle East as a radioactive wasteland, a radioactive cloud that has been moving around earth for decades, ozone layer gone, Europe & US as Third World, & the world dominated by Africa & China. At one stage, we are told the world is 70% muslim, & US is mostly black & hispanic! These threads spread all through the book.

There is a stage where some sanity could have been introduced into the plot. Dan's key technical objection to Crane's fusion project are probably sound: there would not have been any life on earth if earth could not renew itself with tectonic activity; how do you know you are not banishing future life from earth? But this angle is never developed & quickly abandoned.

The book describes a lot of tech toys - brain implants, mood enhancing drugs, wrist-worn computers, projector-based televisions that normally use clouds & outside of public buildings as display surfaces, aural implants, flying cars, ... I wonder why just quake taming was not enough sf!

End of the book is the big quake in California. Crane & Dan have made peace, & will be committing suicide in the quake together!

Key characters.

1. Lewis Crane: Hero - the man who will banish the earthquakes.
2. Dan Newcombe aka Abu Talib: Close associate of Crane. The man who imparts mathematical rigor into Crane's predictions.
3. Lanie King: A computer simulation expert. Girlfriend of Dan, & later wife of Crane.
4. Harry Whetstone: Billionaire friend & benefactor of Crane. Plays a crucial role at one point in the plot.
5. Burt Hill: Kind of majordomo of Crane. The man of administration who ensures Crane can focus on important things, & not have to worry about details.
6. Sumi Chan: A Chinese woman in US who has faked her appearance, & hidden her sex from world for some weird & unfathomable reason. People think she is a he. Rises to be a US president in his male avatar, & later becomes second wife of Crane.
7. Kate Masters: A politician, & a friend of Lanie & Chan.
8. Mohammed Ishmael: A separatist & a terrorist. Prominent through the book, but is part of a tangent plot unrelated to main story.

Fact sheet.

Richter 10, novel, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke & (Late) Mike McQuay
First published: 1996
Genre: Science Fiction
Rating: A

See also.

1. Jean Auel's "The Clan of Cave Bear": Opener where a child is the only survivor of an earthquake is very similar. Though Jean's story is more heartrending.
2. Robert Heinlein's first published story, "Life-Line" (1939). There is much similarity in plot - both stories involve predicting something that is well beyond our current capabilities, both see the main protagonist die at the end, & in both, the main protagonist plays a similar stunt to get recognition from public as a prophet rather than a charlatan - by betting a large sum of money with whoever prove the prophet wrong.
   
3. "The Ghost from the Grand Banks" has some very similar earthquake scenes. Also, volcano Pelee on islands named Martinique is involved.
   

"The Star" (short story): Interesting, if a bit religious

While I don't recall a Clarke's remark to the effect, the conclusion is unmistakable: this story as well as the novel "The Songs of Distant Earth" are essentially variants of Clarke's first published story - "Rescue Party".

All three share an identical doomsday scenario: the star shining on the home of an evolved life form explodes killing all life & planets. In Songs & Rescue Party, it is the Sun shining on earth that explodes; in this story, it is the sun shining on an alien world 3000 light years from earth that exploded 6000 years back.

Full text of this story is available online (link via BestScienceFictionStories), as also an MP3 version (link via SF Signal & Free SF Reader). I haven't seen either of these online version, but quick skimming of text version suggests it's the text I read.

Story summary (spoiler).
Humans have figured out a way of traveling really great distances - at least 3000 light years in less than a human life time. A survey ship comes upon this remnant of a star - a tiny version of its earlier self, surrounded by several concentric shells of dust that are still expanding & are what remains of its outer surface & planets after explosion.

But one outer planet about the distance of Pluto from our Sun survives - barely. Much of its outer ice covering is gone, but a rocky surface remains. That is where our surveyors land. And they find a vast building, & also some remnants of radio signals in rocks.

The building is a huge vault. Apparently, there were intelligent space travelers living on one of the inner worlds that no longer existed, but they had not yet mastered interstellar travel. They had taken extreme pains to stock the vault with the best of their culture & artifacts.

And they had taken a lot of pain in explaining this in a variety of ways to any intelligent aliens that might in future come upon what remained of their world. They did not want all signs of their existence wiped out. Now the humans are burdened & honored with paying homage to them & preserving their relics.

The story is told through a Jesuit priest on board the surveyor - in somewhat religious undertones.

Personally, I found both Songs & Rescue Party better stories. But this is not a bad story.

Collected in.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "More Than One Universe"
3. David Hartwell & Kathryn Cramer (Ed)'s "The Ascent of Wonder: The Evolution of Hard SF".

See also.

1. This story is unrelated to H G Wells' "The Star", which inspired Clarke's "The Hammer of God".
   
2. "Improving the Neighborhood" is a much shorter variant of this - but earth dies here, & aliens mull over the kind of sentients we were.
   
3. All stories with religion as a theme.

External links.

1. Jeff Vehige discusses this story from a Christian religious perspective. I am not familiar with Christianity, & could neither relate to those nuances, nor considered them important. But others might care.

Fact sheet.
The Star, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1955
Rating: B
Listed in Contento's Top Ten Most Reprinted Stories.

"The Nine Billion Names of God" (short story): Amusing computer specifications

A second rate doomsday story.

Full text of this story is available online (link via Best Science Fiction Stories), as also is an MP3 version (link via SF Signal & Free SF Reader). I haven't seen either of online versions, but quick skimming of text version suggests it's the story I read.

Story summary (spoiler).
Some monks in a monastery in Tibet have been researching the real names of God for 3 centuries - apparently, the familiar names of god are not good enough.

They know the written real names of god will be exactly 9 letters long - letters drawn from their special alphabet. And no more than 3 consecutive occurrences of the same letter are permitted.

Problem is to write down all permutations of characters meeting these criteria. When a correct name is spelled, the universe we know will lose meaning.

Monks have been doing this permutation writing for 3 centuries. Now they think the computers can speed the job up - from several more centuries to a few months.

A computer that sounds like a mainframe is brought, along with 2 programmers for 3 months. These permutations are printed & painstakingly filed on paper.

Programmers were brought on-site without telling them why the enumerations are being printed. One the them learns the purpose, & is worried monks will blame them when the last permutation is printed & world keep on whirring the way it always has had. They invent a way to delay the project completion - so they will be on their way home when last permutation is printed.

While programmers are on their way back, the machine prints last permutation. When programmers look up the sky, they find the stars are rapidly vanishing.

There is one silly point, & many amusing ones. Silly is - what are the odds that target name is the last one printed!

Amusing ones relate to description of computer & programming. They tell the age of the story - it is from 50s; of course, Clarke must have been quite up to date when he wrote the story. Here are some quotes I especially liked:

• "Your Mark V Computer can carry out any routine mathematical operation up to ten digits. However, for our work we are interested in letters, not numbers. We wish you to modify the output circuits ..."
• "A rather more interesting problem is that of devising suitable circuits to eliminate ridiculous combinations. For example, no letter must occur more than three times in succession."
• "The components" of computer "are small enough to travel by air".

See also.

1. An in-passing inconsequential remark referring to this story is found in Robert Heinlein's "Stranger in a Strange Land", & in a misquoted form in Eric Frank Russell's hilarious "Next of Kin".
2. All stories with religion as a theme.

Collected in.

1. "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke"
2. "Of Time and Stars"
3. "More Than One Universe"
4. Robert Silverberg (Ed)'s "The Science Fiction Hall of Fame: Volume One, 1929-1964".

External links.

1. Since this is amongst the most collected stories of Clarke, opinions on it are bound to differ. My friend Rusty has a more positive review of this story.

Fact sheet.
The Nine Billion Names of God, short story, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
Rating: C
Listed in Contento's Top Ten Most Reprinted Stories.

"Rama Revealed" (novel): Microbes replace electricity!

Imagine replacing all the electronics & other electrically powered machines around you with living genetically engineered animal equivalents:

1. Smart portable lighting made possible with huge fireflies!
2. An engineered equivalent of camel for replacing cars that moves fast, has its back shaped to make comfortable seat, & you can "tell" it about destination & route for driving!
3. Medicines & diagnostic probes delivered to appropriate places in your body by "programmable" microbes to which you can "tell" what exactly is to be accomplished inside the body.
4. Imaging equipment made possible with conniving engineered animals.

... list goes on, but you get the idea?

This is the third & final of the sequel trilogy to Clarke's original "Rendezvous with Rama".

The bio-magic is included only as a detour in this essentially a fantasy novel. While the novel is by & large readable with some realistic & futuristic thinking sprinkled all through, overall it just cannot compare in readability with at least the first 3 Harry Potters.

Last 10% is mostly garbage, with some theories that I found rather too fantastic. But first 90% doesn't bore, & has some good action.

Its end reminded me of Rescue Party's galactic administration entrusted with their duties by powers beyond the beginning of time.

Fact sheet.
Rama Revealed, novel, review
Authors: Arthur C Clarke & Gentry Lee
Genre: Fantasy with some science fiction
First published: 1993
Rating: B

Series: "Jupiter Five" (A), "Rendezvous with Rama" (A), "Rama II" (C) , "Garden of Rama" (B), "Rama Revealed" (B)

See also:

1. "Rama series summary"
2. "Influences" section of "Rescue Party"
3. Similar bio-magic is found in a much earlier novel - "The City & the Stars".
4. If you are among the devout, you might even like the end - about God & His role in Creation. Here are other stories with religion as a theme.

"2001 A Space Odyssey" (novel): On human origins & gods

This novel from mid-1960s must easily be among the better science fiction works. Comprises of essentially four different stories carefully linked together, but each could independently exist.

Story summary (spoiler).
First story doesn't last long, but has an outstanding plot that can be basis for a series of novels - if you drop the ET component & may be do a bit more research.

It portrays life 3 million years ago in a colony of apes that are on the verge of discovering stuff that will turn their descendants into humans.

I particularly liked it because it deals with a period of human history about which I have never read another story. And it offers rich tapestry on which to write more stories - though I am not aware if any have been written in 40 years that this book has been around.

But for Clarke, this first story is just a method of introducing ET (extra-terrestrial intelligence - intelligent beings that are not of earthly origin). In this case, an ET surveyor chooses these apes, among a lot of other animals, to slightly nudge them towards a path that will lead to intelligent species; all experiments fail except humans.

There is another Clarke story, published over a decade earlier, that touches on this theme: "Encounter at Down". But I personally find the version in 2001 far more interesting.

Incidentally, Clarke actually marries this story with "Encounter at Down" in a far better variant of the story titled "First Encounter" in "The Lost Worlds of 2001".

Second story is of space flight & of human colonization of moon. Much of the story deals with travel aspects of this subject; ETs enter in later part.

Colony on moon has been doing a local magnetic survey , & find an anomaly - a physical location that has intense magnetic field. They eventually discover an unexplainable object that is obviously not of natural origin. It can also not be human origin because it dates back 3 million years - humans as we know them appeared only 30,000 years back.

When this object is exposed to sunlight accidentally, a major electromagnetic disturbance results that apparently is a signal; simultaneously, the signal is also observed by ships widely dispersed through solar system.

Note there is an earlier short story too where ETs plant a beacon on moon to monitor evolution of intelligence on earth: "The Sentinel". When introducing Sentinel in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke", he mentions that Sentinel "is the starting point of 2001: A Space Odyssey".

There are two aspects of this story that you find in "Rescue Party", the mother of all Clarke stories:

1. Essentially benign aliens keeping a watch of development of intelligent beings everywhere in galaxy. And helping them where they can.
2. Black monolith in this story also appears in all 3 sequels of this novel. I was reminded of it by the black rectangle of apparently infinite depth in the control room of the alien ship in Rescue Party.
   

Third story is also of space flight - to one of the moons of Saturn (Japetus, also called Iapetus).

Much of the story is a description of the ship, passage off asteroid belt, around Jupiter, arrival at Saturn, & going in orbit around target moon.

This story also includes 3 other common plot elements - I have previously seen 2 of them used in Clarke's other work, third is from Asimov's novels.

1. A spaceship with a rotating cylindrical element to create artificial gravity.
2. Moving human passengers long distance in space by putting them in hibernation.
3. HAL, a robot, or rather an AI, that behaves remarkably like Asimov's robots, except that it can harm humans.

Robot is controlling the ship that is carrying 5 human passengers. 3 of them are in hibernation, 2 are awake. There is a winded juvenile plot of governmental secrecy that is behind 3 sleeping & 2 awake - they have been given different information, & must not communicate with each other till arrival at Saturn.

Midway through the voyage, some anomalous behavior is observed in robot's functioning. There is talk that robot might be shut down. Robot doesn't want to die! So it decides to kill the two humans that are awake.

Robot contrives a technical fault & kills one. Other is suspicious & wants to awaken the sleeping 3. Robot tries killing them all, but our hero survives, & kills robot instead. I found this part rather mundane - better suited for a Cartoon Network show for kids.

OK - so the hero revives the ship with help from command control on earth. Then he is told the mission objective. ET beacon that went off 2 years back on moon had sent its signals clearly for the targeted moon of Saturn. This moon has also been an astronomical oddity, ignored till now. Our hero will have to investigate & learn what he can.

After arriving on target, hero finds a structure that is clearly not natural, & looks like a bigger version of moon beacon. He decides to land & investigate.

There is a remark in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke" when introducing the short story "Breaking Strain": "'Breaking Strain' was one of the stories incorporated into the film and novel, 2001." Presumably, the accident scene in this third part was inspired by this.

Forth story is of his landing, & is essentially fantasy mixed with religion. As he approaches beacon, it opens to let him. And takes him on a tour of stars with wonderful sights. ETs in question are actually indistinguishable from Hindu concept of Brahm - universal mind or energy. Our hero eventually merges into this brahm, yet retains his individuality - something many in India will identify as moksha, the ultimate purpose of human existence according to preachings of many Hindu sects.

Last paragraph gives a hint of sequel - where this Star Child revisits earth, & is wondering what he should do with it!

See also.

1. "Space Odyssey series summary".
2. A discussion of HAL, the AI in third story, but primarily from the point of view of the movie version - its origins, & ideas that drove its design, & some future gazing in AI. Of the two interviews listed - with Arthur Clarke & Marvin Minsky - only one with Clarke is available online when I checked it last (note - it's quite long).
   
3. Lewis Padgett's "Mimsy Were the Borogoves": Idea of teaching via smart toys is at the heart of this classic, too. But here, the alien artifacts inadvertently end up in the hands of human children - with unexpected results
   
4. "Influences" section of "Rescue Party".
5. Robert Heinlein's "Ordeal in Space" (1948): The plot element where a spaceman falls off the spaceship, in third part, comes from this older story by Heinlein. This spaceman will be recovered 1000 years later, in "3001 The Final Odyssey", without many psychological troubles! Another very good & off-beat alternative version of this is Clarke's "Maelstrom II".
   
6. Robert Reed's "Eight Episodes" (2006), nominated for Hugo Award 2007 in short story category, is a variant of the sentinel part of this story.
7. Ted Chiang's "Story Of Your Life" (1998): Alien artifacts appear all over modern world to enable humans to talk to aliens. But this story is less about aliens than about language & cognition.
   
8. All stories with religion as a theme.

Fact sheet.
2001 A Space Odyssey, novel, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1968 (was written during 1964-1968, published in 1968, according to Clarke's introduction to "2010 Odyssey Two")
Rating: A (mostly for plot of first story; story #2 & 3 are B; #4 is C).

"Childhood's End" (novel): Religion & mysticism sold as second rate science fiction

There are parts that are interesting, but I would not have missed this doomsday novel had I never laid my hands on it.

This book is essentially a reiteration of the idea of moksha as the ultimate purpose of life - as preached by any number of Hindu sects over the millennia. See note below.

Story summary (spoiler).
One fine day in 21st century (or is it 2oth - I forget) massive alien ships appear over major cities in the world. These aliens quickly subdue humanity, preach Clarke's morals, unite all the world's countries in one big government, etc. And are referred to by mere mortals as "Overlords". That is the first part. I generally found in totally pointless.

This first part is an expanded version of the short story "Guardian Angel" (1950), according to Clarke's introduction to this story in "The Collected Stories of Arthur C Clarke". It's nearly the same text, but uses far fewer words; I found the shorter version a better reading.

Later half is where you have the sole tiny interesting story in the entire book - a smart mortal rebels, figures out the location of Overlord's Sun, & manages to board one of the Overlord commuter ships as a stowaway to visit their world.

Much of the second half can be seen a two separate stories.

1. A fantasy where our stowaway lands on the Overlords' world, & sees sights that are supposed to be eye-popping.
2. Other story is essentially of moksha - any number of Hindu sects have preached it over the centuries. There is an equivalent of Hindu Brahm - a kind of universal all capable mind that is essentially infinitely capable. We are told it was this universal mind whose bidding the Overlords do (more Hindu mythology); I think Clarke uses the term "Overmind" for this universal mind. And that Overlords have come to earth to prepare humans over the age of 10 for the doomsday that will see the end of humanity as a separate species. Through a what can be seen as miracle, kids below the age of 10 merge with universal mind. Adults lose interest in life & die out. End of the book is quick evaporation of whole earth into oblivion.

Moksha as a popular concept in modern India.
Moksha is essentially a merger of a living entity, including humans, into brahm - a kind of infinitely capable universal presence or mind - after death.

So you will be freed from the cycle of reincarnations - said to be a desirable goal, because it saves you the effort of living. Any number of sects in India preach this everyday, often using very colorful imagery, along with a recommended code of living that will help you attain this objective.

Note that brahm is also known by many other names.

The Wikipedia article on the subject is far from authoritative, but gives a general feel of the subject in a more learned language & in more detail.

Fact sheet.
Childhood's End, novel, review
Author: Arthur C Clarke
First published: 1953
Rating: C

See also:

1. "Guardian Angel" (1950): Short story that is the starting point of "Childhood's End".
   
2. "The Light of Other Days": Another second rate story that attempts to define a different variant of hive intelligence as the ultimate purpose of human existence.
   
3. All Clarke stories with aliens, or doomsday as theme
4. All stories with religion as a theme.

The novel is also included in the following collections.

1. "Across the Sea of Stars"