Ocean Under the Ice

Rocheworld #4

by Robert L. Forward, Martha Dodson Forward

When the first interstellar expedition reached Barnard's Star they found Rocheworld, and discovered therein the flouwen, giant amoeboids with a flair for math. Almost immediately, the medium-brained but high-tech humans from Earth forged happy alliance with the big-brained, lovable blobs, and a man-amoeba team set out for Zulu, the ice-shrouded moon of a gas giant in the Barnard system!
There they discovered deep oceans under the ice, and gigantic hot water geysers that spouted plumes hundreds of miles into space. The plan is for humans to investigate the huge geysers using amphibious tanks, while the flouwen, who live only for math and surfing, ride a geyser to its top.
Neither man nor blob had expected that Zulu would have a native sophont species who thrive on the nutrients around the vents that spawn the geysers - and that these natives would interpret an alien approach as an assault on their food supplies...

Genres: Science Fiction, Speculative Fiction

443 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2000

About the author

Robert Lull Forward, commonly known as Robert L. Forward, (August 15, 1932 - September 21, 2002) was an American physicist and science fiction writer. His fiction is noted for its scientific credibility, and uses many ideas developed during his work as an aerospace engineer.

Reviews

[Mitch Fountain · Rating 2 out of 5]

Who the hell would name their daughter Martha? It's OK and Martha got to put her name on a book. It's all been downhill since Rocheworld for this series.

[Shorewalker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Starts out slow and is VERY predictable, but if you like underwater submarine tales, it's okay.