Ocean on Top

by Hal Clement, Jack Gaughan (Illustrator)

Aquatic enigma. The world's energy was limited...and with overpopuation and a high level of technology, the Power Board had virtually become the real government of the world. Power was rationed, it was guarded, it was sacred.
Thus when three of the Power Board's agents disappeared at sea, and there was evidence that something irregular was happening to the energy quota in that area, it was cause for real alarm. OCEAN ON TOP is a brilliant - and different - novel of hard science and high suspense at the bottom of the sea. Written by the author of NEEDLE and MISSION OF GRAVITY, it is a vision of the century to come when the ocean floor may be our last frontier.

From the back cover.

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook

141 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1967

About the author

Harry Clement Stubbs better known by the pen name Hal Clement , was an American science fiction writer and a leader of the hard science fiction subgenre.

Further details at Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

DAW Collectors #57

Cover Artist: Jack Gaughan

Name: Harry Clement Stubbs, Somerville, Massachusetts, (May 30, 1922 – October 29, 2003)

In "Ocean on Top", an investigator from the Power Board takes a sub down to the sea bottom to hunt for an illegal group of energy wasters. What he finds is breathtaking: a whole nation of people living under the sea, tapping power from the Earth's core. They have energy to spare, and they are not hooked into the global power grid.

The people do not live in a dome city; rather, they've invented a heavier-than-water liquid to fill their living spaces, and have invented a means of oxygenating their blood without breathing air. They can live quite well, immersed in liquid their entire lives. They have no contact with the outside world.

They offer him a choice: leave immediately, or undertake an operation to allow him to stay on the sea bottom. If he stays, he will breathe the heavier-than-water liquid; if he leaves, he will be permitted to tell all he knows--but the Power Board will probably ignore him and his reports. He decides to stay and learn more, and find a way to force these wasters to hook their power into the grid of the power-starved dystopia on the surface.

For reasons unknown to anyone except Clement, we never learn the main character's name. We do, learn that he hates his nickname.

This book lacked excitement.

[Adrian · Rating 3 out of 5]

My writing on the inside of the flyleaf of this book shows I got it for Christmas in 1976, so it probably is about time I read it 😀

And now I have , was it worth the wait of 42 years, erm probably not. I did enjoy it, and would give it around 3.5 stars if I could, but I'm not rounding up to 4.

It's quite a good storyline and I enjoyed the characters, but it just didn't seem to go anywhere and that was to me why it only got 3 stars. It's a shame because it was very promising.

[Marileen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I mean.. lol... the motivation of the male characters (in anything they do) truly is just .. girl pretty nice decoration, why won't she give me chance? Whilst the book almost always sounds degrading towards woman. So lol... no. The emotional intelligence was the sun in this book (because it takes place at the bottom of the ocean and the sun can't reach there)

But the research and mystery part was fun, funky sci-fi concepts and actions bits that were adrenaline and gasp worthy.

Overall very glad this was a short book and I didn't waste 300 pages just for a reveal that felt like the dumbest shit ever.

[Devero · Rating 4 out of 5]

Questo è il terzo romanzo di Clement che leggo e devo dire che non delude come i precedenti.
Scritto a inizio degli anni '70, ci porta in un futuro terribilmente prossimo ed attuale, nel quale 15 miliardi di persone abiteranno la Terra e l'energia sarà razionata, il crimine peggiore sarà sprecarla e una Commissione sovranazionale manda in giro per il mondo ispettori a sanzionare comportamenti errati quali furti di energia, ma soprattutto sprechi.
Il protagonista è uno di questi ispettori che, cercando le tracce di 3 suoi colleghi scomparsi in sequenza, finirà anche lui catturato da questo popolo di umani modificati che è riuscito a creare una colonia a un miglio di profondità al largo di Rapa Nui, sfruttando un liquido più denso dell'acqua che trasporta ossigeno e calore. Peccato che questa colonia, di circa 15.000 abitanti, abbia alcuni grossi problemi. L'impossibilità di parlare, perché comunicano a gesti nel loro ambiente, ha portato alla carenza di "istruzione tecnica" e di conseguenza ad enormi problemi nella gestione dei complessi macchinari che mantengono in vita la colonia.
Questa colonia, esistente da almeno 80 anni, ormai ha sviluppato una cultura propria, praticamente aliena per il resto del mondo dal quale si è isolata.
Tutta la parte descrittiva è ottima, perché abbina le spiegazioni all'azione, e di azione ce n'è tanta anche se in parte sotto traccia. Anche la parte di interazione tra il protagonista e i comprimari è ottima. Quello che non mi è piaciuto è la spiegazione psicologica che ha portato il protagonista a cercare la collega di cui è innamorato, la quale è praticamente prigioniera nella colonia, mentre l'uomo che lei ama e che è scomparso prima di lei la ignora. E poi c'è il quarto incomodo. Ecco, la parte romantico-sentimentale non è stata di mio gradimento, ma è fondamentale per lo sviluppo dell'azione. Il finale parzialmente aperto non stona.
4 stelle

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hal Clement's strong suit was in the creation of strange alien worlds and the strange beings that might inhabit them, but this one is set firmly on Earth. It's an undersea story, and he spends too much time discussing the environment and how humankind can adapt to exist in it and not enough time telling a story. It's interesting reading (he obviously spent a long time researching and speculating), but not among his best works.

[John Clarke · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book shortly after it was published, and have been looking for it ever since. Recently, I stumbled across it again and downloaded the Audible version.
It was everything I remembered.

Of particular note, it presaged the U.S. national Energy Crisis and made a futuristic prediction of what was at the time the exciting Navy-funded work on liquid breathing by humans.
It may not be the most exciting of Clement's works, but if you are curious about the prospects of living under the sea, it correctly, in my opinion, predicts the divergence of the human species into two races; the air-breathing humans, and the liquid breathing humans. It also predicts convincingly some of the communication difficulties such a divergence would cause.
Regardless of the plot line, that was an exciting science fiction concept back in the 1970s, and surely worth a resurgence in this century as well.

[SciFiOne · Rating 5 out of 5]

1979 grade B
2008 grade A-

old, interesting

[Kevin Phyland · Rating 3 out of 5]

In a near future of energy scarcity, it is criminal to hoard or waste energy, and a world government has been established to regulate and meter it and maintain interest in developing fusion power. Some members of the Energy Board have gone missing off Papeete in the Pacific and a third dive has been initiated with a Board member (unnamed but referred to as Tummy later) in a bathysphere secreted inside a derelict ship which is sunk to the ocean floor a mile below. The lure works and divers appear to look it over. They do not have pressure suits. They do not appear to be breathing. They have a huge area of ocean floor covered with what looks like a lighted canvas. Tummy now has serious questions. The first half of the book is a cat-and-mouse game between the bathysphere and a sub which is trying to capture it after Tummy blew the ballast. He wakes at the surface in a storm and is recaptured and dragged back below. There he discovers the missing Board members apparently surgically altered to survive in the oxygen-dense liquid they are immersed in (osmotically apparently). Then we have a tale of unrequited love, bitterness and exposition by Hal Clement of how and why it all came about. Easy enough to read but I didn’t buy the premise for very long. Economies of scale notwithstanding it’s profligate.

[Fabio R. Crespi · Rating 3 out of 5]

La Terra soffre da decenni la crisi energetica: inutili le guerre, le singole nazioni unificarono le proprie riserve sotto un unico Consiglio, dedito al razionamento e all'equa distribuzione dell'energia.
Ma, nelle profondità oceaniche, alcuni inviati si imbattono in strane strutture, che apparentemente sprecano energia, mentre, in realtà sfruttano abilmente l'energia geotermica. Di fatto si tratta di una sorta di nuova nazione, sfuggita all'unificazione.

Hal Clement mostra tutto il suo talento nel versante della hard sf con "Nati dall'abisso" ("Ocean on Top", 1973; Urania Mondadori, 2022; trad. di Roberta Rambelli) e ci mostra, non solo tutta una nazione che vive negli abissi da decenni, ma anche il come (scienza, tecnica, manipolazione genetica, linguaggio). Forse addirittura privilegia troppo ogni dettaglio tecnico a discapito della vicenda narrata, che tende poi a trascinarsi in modo poco accattivante. Il succo, alla fine, è se la nuova nazione sia integrabile nel modello mondiale di razionamento dell'energia e, soprattutto, se ci sia convenienza a farlo, alterando l'equilibrio etico e politico mondiale.

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this 4 stars because for a 1967 scifi short this is very mature but even though I thought this was really good, it wasn't quite 4 star good. The only character with any depth is the narrator, who is fantastic and has quite a few comical asides for the reader, but the other players are fairly uni dimensional.

I did like the set up for the story, Ocean On Top was originally serialised in 3 parts and I think by the time Hal got to writing parts two and three he had changed his mind about the set up. We begin on an investigation for the power corporations but our protagonist seems to get distracted by what he finds and finishes up in a state of uncertainty.

As a short story to get your brain juices flowing that really works but as a whole story it was lacking in fullness. However, the underwater exploration is fantastic, there's heaps of info thrown into it and a liberal dose of imagination too.

That's my first Hal Clement and I'm pleased with the experience.

[Bernie]

Descriptive first person narrative. The story line was weak. While trying to explain the science and technology of underwater living and breathing, Clement trying to maintain a human drama with not well developed characters. The sea dwellers are much like extras in movie set. Not much empathy for the ones that die. The whole idea of communicating with hand gestures instead of speech to get across technical details is a stretch. For me, this is where the suspension of disbelief goes south. This might have been plausible in the 70s but given what we know today, highly improbable. Also the entertainment factor was not there. I find myself turning the pages just to be done.

[Brent Byron · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few interesting ideas and some hard science about a civilization of humans living under the ocean. I liked the language and writing system of the ocean dwellers.
The idea of the Power Board and a power rationing future society was believable, but the motivations of the characters were not.
Not Hal Clement's best work, but a fun and fast adventure.

[Patrik Sahlstrøm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is grafen-hard SF that takes place on the bottom of the sea instead of in space. The sciency part is pretty good, but honestly, nothing happens in this book. Bonus points to Clement for at least trying to have a female character that does seem more sensible than the men. Well written, and if you're into submarines you're gonna love this book.
Otherwise pretty meh

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is a lot to like about this book, good premise, interesting characters and excellent setting. The biggest problem is it feels like half a book, just as it starts to get going and you might get answers to some of the plot points, it just ends. Can't help feeling unsatisfied.

[Craig Russo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Has Clement has always been a great story teller. I loved this.

[Lis Carey · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a couple of centuries in the future, and Earth is ruled by a Power Board created with the energy crisis became so severe that the choices for the human race were Ration or Die. Our protagonist, who hates his name and therefore never says it, is an engineer with the Power Board who has been assigned the risky task of investigating the disappearance of three other Power Board officials--friends as well as colleagues of his--who have disappeared in the South Pacific.

What he discovers is shocking--an undersea secret nation using unrationed volcanic power to live lives free of the restrictions and constraints of society on the surface.

And all three of his friends are alive--two of them working for the Council that rules this undersea culture.

This is a nifty little story that presents the narrator with a real moral dilemma.

Recommended.

I borrowed this book from a friend.

[Amazingbollweevil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clement is my favorite strange world creator. In this novel, he tackles something closer to home, the deep ocean. The hero uses a bathyscaphe to investigate some disappearances and discovers people swimming around without the aide of air regulators. The novel is not so much a story as an exploration into how we might one day colonize the deep sea. It could well have been written as the first part of a longer series as Clement has set up more than a few story lines. It's an interesting read just for the speculative science.

[Alfred Lorenzo Stine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt like it was interesting, believable, and very original. But I felt like it was not exciting enough. Perhaps it needed a bit more action, or could have been longer. Overall though, not a bad read. There was some action after all.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bit of a let down at the end. A lot of potential squandered.

[Charl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read, not as engaging as most of his other stories. Ending felt abrupt and unfinished.