Due umani e un robot da soli nel sistema di Alpha Centauri
Marchenko, Adam ed Eva hanno trovato asilo su un pianeta abitato da alieni. Lì potrebbero trascorrere il resto della loro vita in pace e tranquillità, ma a quanto pare ci sono molte altre persone come loro che sono state mandate in sistemi alieni senza un biglietto di ritorno e senza essere naufraghi dal destino incerto che hanno bisogno del loro aiuto.
I loro salvatori alieni offrono loro generosamente la possibilità di intraprendere la ricerca con una delle loro astronavi. E sebbene non sappiano se i loro ospiti agiscano davvero in modo altruistico, si imbarcano in un'odissea i cui pericoli sono imprevedibili e la cui fine è davvero scritta nelle stelle.
Brandon Q. Morris is a physicist and space specialist. He has long been concerned with space issues, both professionally and privately and while he wanted to become an astronaut, he had to stay on Earth for a variety of reasons. He is particularly fascinated by the "what if” and through his books he aims to share compelling hard science fiction stories that could actually happen, and someday may happen. Morris is the author of several best-selling science fiction novels.
Der ursprünglichen Proxima-Trilogie, die auch in BQM's "Future History" eingebunden war, hat er eine zweite Trilogie (Die Proxima-Logbücher) nachfolgen lassen, dessen erster Band mit diesem Roman hier vorliegt. Marchenko war ein Charakter aus der "Eismond"-Reihe, bei der dessen Bewußtsein in einem Quantencomputer hochgeladen werden musste. Danach wurde er in mehreren Mini-Raumschiffen kopiert und per Laser auf die Reise in nahegelegene Sonnensysteme geschickt. Das Mini-Raumschiff das im Zentrum der Proxima-Trilogie stand, wurde auf der Reise durch das aufgesammelte intergalaktische Material immer größer und das Genmaterial von zwei Menschen; Adam und Eva; wurde aktiviert. Beim Erreichen des Proxima-Systems sind sie erwachsen und Marchenko war ihr Mentor, danach haben sie auf den Planeten des Systems viele Abenteuer erlebt und sind einer fremden Spezies begegnet, die sie die Großnopfe genannt haben. Mit einem Raumschiff dieser Spezies sind sie nun unterwegs, um in anderen Sonnensystemen nach weiteren Nachkommen dieser Missionen der Menschen zu suchen. Adam und Eva sind wahrscheinlich noch viele Male an Bord dieser Raumschiffe geklont worden. Diese Mission ist der Inhalt dieses Romans, der sie nach Luhman 16 A und B, einem braunen Zwergsystem, führt, dem drittnächsten Sternsystem der Sonne. Eva hat einen totgeweihten Großnopfe gerettet, der nach den Traditionen ihrer Spezies eigentlich nicht leben darf, das führt zu einem Konflikt mit ihren Freunden, das zudem auch noch zum Tod einiger Besatzungsmitglieder führt... Den Auftakt finde ich gelungen, wenn auch die Motive, speziell derer von Eva, nicht immer nachvollziehbar sind. Immerhin finde ich die Frage nach Ehtik und Moral; und ob man sie universell an jede vernunftbegabte Spezies stellen kann, gut aufgelöst. Ich bin gespannt wie es weitergeht...
Adam and Eve are living on the aliens home planet, when Marchenko comes back from rescuing more hibernating aliens from proximal b with some news. Many other ships were launched to other potentially habitable planets, including some relatively near to their current location. They decide to launch a ship to investigate the new potentially in habitable world and see if the other ships have arrived. Meanwhile their friend shows them the birthing ritual where it is survival of the fittest and the aliens are forbidden to intervene. Eve is horrified by this and does something completely taboo that could have far reaching consequences to their new mission.... While the peril is not as great as in the prior novels, there is still intrigue and suspense with surprising alien life forms and asteroid fields to be navigated....
The first episode (the best term for it) in the sequel series to Proxima.
The Proxima Trilogy was the first series I've read of Brandon Q. Morris' Hard SF series, and the one I enjoyed the most. Though it suffered from pretty bad pacing, especially in the latter two books.
This sequel series solves that problem by making the books (or at least the first book) into episodic somewhat self-contained stories. The plot is simple but effective, and the characters old and new are still fun. It has the "solving weird problems in space" of the rest of Morris' books along with the "Family drama in alien worlds" that's exclusive to the Proxima series.
I made the mistake of believing that you don't need to read the other books in this series to enjoy this one. That was very wrong for me. I needed some background information to understand what Marchenko was and after reading this whole book I am not sure I get it still. Total waste of my time to read this without knowing more background on the characters. And now I don't feel like I want to invest any more time in figuring it out after this read. It lost me....
Not badly written if you had the back story, but too vague for me if you don't.
The "kids" are both insufferable. Eve should be named Karen. Adam is either a savant or just playing stupid. One minute he can barely tie his shoes and the next he's explaining complex theories. The jury is still out as to whether I will read the next. Mr Morris, you have done so much better than this drivel.
Even if you have not read previous novels in this series, Marchenkos Children stands up. This author manages to consistently come up with intriguing, logically consistent possibilities and never seem completely impossible and his visual descriptions bring the stories to life.
This story idea is as good as any other of Morris' books but I found very little "hard science" if any at all. The story-telling disjointed and occasionally confusing. The dialog is awkwardly simple and seems unnatural. I have read other BQM. books that I rated 4-stars but, this one fell far short of that.
Where was the conflict? Every interaction between characters, or possible plot conflict is politely and easily overcome in just one or two lines. The dialogue is unnaturally/awkwardly polite, even between characters that may have reasons not to be. The ideas and setting were okay but there is essentially no story here. I won't be continuing this series.
Brandon Q. Morris has done it again. Another great book in the Proxima series. I read it in one sitting and enjoyed every minute. I’m looking forward to the next book!
I enjoyed the book, it was interesting and had good characters. The story was complex and kept my attention. Mr Morris blends in decent science with unique and interesting ideas in most of his books, enough for me to look forward to the next one.
Nice but varying story about human colonization of planets around Alpha Centauri. Part 1 of the Proxima series which I pass on due to the rest being too depressing