The Ethical Engineer

Deathworld #2

by Harry Harrison

HardPress Classic Books Series

Genres: Science Fiction, Fiction, Audiobook, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Space Opera, Space

124 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1963

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Harry Harrison (born Henry Maxwell Dempsey) was an American science fiction author best known for his character the The Stainless Steel Rat and the novel Make Room! Make Room! (1966), the basis for the film Soylent Green (1973). He was also (with Brian W. Aldiss) co-president of the Birmingham Science Fiction Group.

Excerpted from Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 3.5 rating, this Deathworld book is a special kind of classic SF.

There are a ton of SF that have those classic single educated characters landing on a planet full of uneducated only to eventually rule them all (or save, liberate, or whatnot). It's so old that it's cliche.

Of course, if you want that kind of thing, and want it done well, (hello planet of slaves and unabashed opportunism,) then this Harry Harrison is probably your thing.

Notable aspects: steam engine supremacy, a heavy-handed novel-long skewering of Ethos versus Ethics, and adventure.

Again, not bad, and there's nothing particularly ugly about this except the depiction of humanity, but we're pretty casual about that even now. Well, we're a bit more creative about it these days... and not only in fiction.

[Phil · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid sequel to Deathworld for sure! We left off Deathworld I with Jason dinAlt figuring out why the flora and fauna of the planet were so hostile to humanity (at least the people in the city) and some sort of peace between the 'grubbers' and 'junkmen'. Shortly thereafter, a ship arrives in port stating that it has a message for Jason; when Jason goes into the ship to get it (feeling very confident in a swaggering way) he gets gassed and kidnapped by Mikah-- a religious fanatic determined to make Jason pay for his crimes of exploiting casinos. Jason, not at all happy about this, manages to sabotage the ship and it crash lands on a lonely planet, populated by a harsh slave society.

This novel really featured Harrison's snarky wit via numerous dialogues and contains some fun debates on morality and ethics related to the philosophical concepts of 'relativism' and 'absolutism'. Jason's kidnapper is a firm believer in the Truth and a universal ethic for humanity; Jason engages him in several debates arguing instead a moral relativism. Fun stuff for sure, and a little unexpected in a pulp space opera.

Anyway, Jason and Mikah are captured shortly after their arrival and of course made into slaves, working as part of a gang gathering a funky root that seems to be the basic food staple of the place. Jason, however, is determined to find a way back to civilization no matter what it takes...

Fun stuff from Harrison, a sorely underappreciated author. This still suffers a bit with latent sexism for sure (first published in 1964), but no where near as much as authors such as Heinlein who wrote in the same era. 4 solid pulpy stars!

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably the weakest one in the trilogy, but in retrospect necessary for the hero Jason’s development from part 1 to 3. Unfortunately there’s only very little of my favorite Meta to be seen here, but instead you get the most irritating character in the whole series, an orthodox believer in Truth (with a capital T), justice, and a universal notion of ethics; a real piece of work in short. Some interesting philosophical questions are raised, such as whether to free slaves who do not want to be freed, who don’t actually have a concept of freedom? Is teaching your own morality to a society that acts totally immoral (in your eyes) always the best course of action? Or is it perhaps better to follow the “When in Rome…” approach and throw your own morals over board?
But no worries; there’s plenty of action in the book too, and Jason is developing into some jack-of-all trades from who even MacGyver could learn a thing of two.


This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the second Jason din Alt novel of the three that Harrison wrote. It was serialized in Analog magazine in July and August of 1963 during the period that the magazine was published in bedsheet format with the title The Ethical Engineer. Bantam published the first U.S. book version with this much less imaginative title in 1964. It's a shorter novel than the first one, and opens on the same planet, Pyrrus, but quickly shifts to another hostile environment world when Jason is abducted by a religious zealot named Mikah who wants to put him or trial. Jason's escape attempt results in them being forced into slavery as root harvesters, and they spend a bit too much time debating ethics and philosophy, but it's still a good space opera adventure. There are a lot of clever lines and witty repartee, but it's not the wholesale comedy of Slippery Jim diGriz (the Stainless-Steel Rat), or Bill with two right arms, but rather a captivating, well-paced adventure.

[Samichtime · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s so poorly edited that I actually looked up the editor on Wikipedia to see if he had died before this book’s publication (he hadn’t!). Dialogue was among the most choppy I’ve ever set eyes on. Calling this a rough draft would be generous! 🙀

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wrong edition. Mine is the Librivox recording (available here for free)read by Gregg Margarite with the original title of "The Ethical Engineer", but it's still Deathworld 2. Again, it's a mental palate cleanser, this time after reading The Road, a pointless novel in a post apocalyptic setting.

This was good, but varies quite a bit from the edition I remember reading as Deathworld 2. It's shorter (25%?), cut off at the end, although the conclusion is the same. Still, we miss Jason running around wreaking havoc in his snarky way. Also, his slave girl never threw herself at him, a rather sad bit of humor that made his girlfriend's jealousy a bit too much. The very end was a bit better, if inconclusive. IIRC she just breaks the idiot's arm in the book. In this telling, she may well have killed him, a fate he richly deserved.

[Kat Hooper · Rating 1 out of 5]

Originally posted at FanLit.
http://www.fantasyliterature.com/revi...

Deathworld 2: The Ethical Engineer is the second of Harry Harrison’s novels set on Pyrrus, the planet that tries to kill most humans who set foot upon it. In the first DEATHWORLD novel, space rogue Jason dinAlt discovered the secret of Pyrrus and negotiated a very tense peace between the planet and its two human colonies.

Now Jason has a new problem. A man named Mikah, who represents the religious Truth Party, has arrived to arrest Jason for fleecing casinos across the universe. The purpose is to display Jason’s decadence and sinfulness so that they can topple the government of Cassylia which has been using “Jason Three-Billion” as a poster child to advertise their casinos. Mikah kidnaps Jason and on their way back to Cassylia for trial by the Truth Party, they are shipwrecked and enslaved on a planet that sports a curious mix of primitive tribal cultures with varying degrees of technological advancement. Jason must use his knowledge and skills to get them off the planet.

Harry Harrison is great when he’s writing pulpy science fiction adventures with roguish protagonists. I loved the first few books of his STAINLESS STEEL RAT series, which were just that. But sometimes Harrison decides to acquire an agenda and whomp us over the head with it. This happened with some of the later STAINLESS STEEL RAT books (I stopped reading them because of it) and it’s happened here in Deathworld 2.

In this case, Harrison wants to show us that people who believe in some sort of Truth are just wrong. That’s fine. I don’t agree, but it’s fine with me if Harrison takes that viewpoint. The problem here is that it’s so badly done. Harrison makes his point in two ways. First by making Mikah, Truth’s proponent (and an obvious Straw Man), a ridiculous idiot who gets frustrated with Jason and keeps resorting to calling him names such as “Limb of Satan.” Second by defending his no-Truth argument merely by having it said over and over by a character we’re supposed to think is smart and knowledgeable because he’s suddenly a brilliant engineer. There is no substantial discussion, just a back and forth like this:

“There is no Truth, no Life, no Mankind. At least not the way you spell them — with capital letters. They don’t exist.”

Mikah’s taut skin contracted into a furrow of concentration. “You will have to explain yourself,” he said. “For you are not being clear.”

“I’m afraid it’s you who aren’t being clear. You’re making a reality where none exists. Truth — with a small t — is a description, a relationship. A way to describe a statement. A semantic tool. But Truth with a capital T is an imaginary word, a noise with no meaning. It pretends to be a noun, but it has no referent. It stands for nothing. It means nothing. When you say, ‘I believe in Truth,’ you are really saying ‘I believe in nothing.’”

Gosh, it sounds like Terry Goodkind, doesn’t it? Both characters become self-righteous zealots who constantly interrupt the action to bore us with long meaningless lectures about the nature of Truth. This made it impossible to enjoy the story and I ended up skimming a lot of it. I hope DEATHWORLD will get back on track with book 3.

I’m listening to the audio version of Deathworld 2 that Jimcin Recordings produced in 2011 and which was just produced on CD and distributed by Brilliance Audio. Jim Roberts does a fine job with the narration. His rhythm is stilted sometimes, but he has a good voice for this sort of story.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

It seems that the Deathworld Trilogy by Harry Harrison is about a series of barely inhabitable planets. The first novel was about a world where all the plant and animal life were intent on killing the human inhabitants. In Deathworld 2, we have a planet with humans descended from some past crash landing. They speak a form of Esperanto and are divided into primitive warring tribes with some barely rudimentary technical knowledge.

As before Jason dinAlt is the hero. Here, he is joined by Mikah Samon, who had come to arrest Jason. Jason, however, sabotages the space ship meant to take him to trial; and the ship's computer crashes the ship on the inhabitable planet of [Not Named]. Somehow, Jason manages to get rescued, and the obnoxious Mikah ... Oh, I'd better leave that for you when you read this page-turner.

[Sheska · Rating 3 out of 5]

Next time I hear one of those vile obnoxious hellfire preachers shaming people and demanding they repent or be tortured for all eternity, I will think of this book.

[Xabi1990 · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10. Media de los 17 libros que he leído del autor : 7/10.

Segunda parte de "El mundo de la muerte". Mismos personajes, distinto escenario y divertido. Leed antes el primero de la saga.

A Harrison le recuerdo sobre todo por su serie paródica de los héroes de la CF : "Bill, héroe galáctico". Que tiene otras novelas que me han gustado más, pero esas novelas gamberras me resultaron muy divertidas. Burdas si se quiere, pero divertidas.

[Gert De Bie · Rating 4 out of 5]

In deel 2 van de Deathworld-reeks (we lezen vergeelde pockets uit de jaren '70, hoewel er een gebundelde editie verscheen in 2019) wordt Jason dinAlt, inmiddels ingeburgerd op de planeet Pyrrus, ontvoerd door Mikah, een religieus fanaticus die hem voor het gerecht wil brengen.
In een poging daaraan te ontsnappen, laat Jason hun ruimteschip neerstorten op een planeet die na kolonisatie degenereerde en waar een soort middeleeuwse bikkelharde overlevingscultuur heerst, opgedeeld in verschillende clans.

De rigide houding van Mikah en de al even rigide cultuur op de planeet, zorgen voor boeiende inhoudelijke contrasten en geven deel 2 een sterkere inhoudelijke basis dan deel 1. Pittige discussie en visieverschillen maken het boek ook 60 jaar na publicatie nog behoorlijk relevant.

Verder speelt Harrison weer moeiteloos met actie, spanning en humor om er een compulsief leesbaar boekje van te maken.

[Kynan · Rating 1 out of 5]

TL;DR: A non-sequitur to Deathworld 1 with familiar names and unfamiliar faces. In your face lectures on ethics embedded in an implausible plot with an insufferable protagonist.

TL: Jason! What happened??? I just recently re-read all of the The Stainless Steel Rat series and my initial thought, as I read this, was "I bet there was a huge publishing gap between Deathworld 1 and 2, and that the very much larger than life persona of Slippery Jim diGriz leeched into Jason so that by the time Deathworld 2 was written Jason and James were muddled together in Mr Harrison's mind". Imagine my surprise when I discovered that not only do books 1 and 2 predate all but one of the Stainless Steel Rat series, so does Deathworld 3! So, it's not so much that Jason's character changes are a result of a long-term relationship that the author had with another character from another series, but that Jason's more likeable and well-rounded characteristics underwent a "regression to the Harrison mean" 😁

First things first, though: Deathworld 2 picks up almost directly from the end of book 1 (spoilers for 1 abound so quit now) with Jason living on, on Pyrrus, with the indefatigable Pyrrans, trying to work with Kerk on his pet Save-The-Pyrrans-From-Themselves project. The story starts with the arrival of a ship and, with flashbacks to Jason's refusal to avoid the planet, so too the mystery ship refuses to detour, stating that it has a message to be delivered in person to dinAlt. Jason goes through an entirely pointless and plot-flagging mental exercise to indicate what's about to happen next, and then it happens (trying to avoid book 2 spoilers).

Suffice it to say, Deathworld 2 mostly doesn't take place on Pyrrus. For reasons, Jason ends up on an another planet with an extremely unwilling sidekick named Mikah Samon and what follows is essentially a reworking of A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court as Jason navigates a primative society in the hope of returning to his advanced one.

Similar to my re-reading feelings with regard to the Stainless Steel Rat, I downgraded my historic 3-star rating to 2-stars, for a lot of the same reasons: blatant and rampant sexism and an out-of-place brutalistic and forced pedagogical tone (theme for the lecture: physical implications on the development of localised vs global ethics). That aside, I honestly don't understand why this is a Deathworld book, it has nothing in common with Deathworld 1, with the exception that the names of the characters are used. I say "names" because the Jason dinAlt of this book is very much not the Jason dinAlt of the first. In Deathworld 1 we meet a professional gambler with a penchant for keeping cool under pressure, making quick decisions and keeping himself out of trouble. Come Deathworld 2, Jason's skillset has significantly grown to encompass not just gambling and confidence tricks but physical dexterity and martial arts expertise (I'll accept that as a result of a year on Pyrrus this is maybe reasonable), basic and intermediate metallurgy, basic and intermediate electronics and signalling technology, intermediate to advanced mechanical engineering, basic chemistry (including distillation and brewing for fuel and food purposes). It's possible I've missed some other things but essentially Jason becomes a prodigious polymath, and gains the ego that such a skillset would perhaps imply (ie insufferable). I guess it's this ego that provides the perceived moral superiority that allows Jason to frequently launch into extended pontification on the values of relativistic ethics and religion. The target for these lectures is the unforgivably stupid and irritating Mikah, the character literally exists to allow Jason to rant. Mikah never learns from previous actions and outcomes, he's a stereotypical religious zealot who's brain-dead actions drive the "plot" from beginning to end and I hated everything about him and his presence. There's a pretty long list of other characters I didn't like, actually, it's all of them, so that's simple! They're all two-dimensional creatures who exist purely to allow Jason to strut his stuff.

One final thing to say: this book is essentially a practice run for A Stainless Steel Rat is Born, it's literally the same plot (although the Stainless Steel Rat take on it is much better)!

In the course of writing this I've talked myself down to a 1-star rating. I wouldn't recommend this to even completists; pretend this book doesn't exist.

[hotsake (André Troesch) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent but not nearly as good or entertaining as the first book.

[Kyle Trimper · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brief Synopsis: Jason dinAlt is building his life on Pyrrus, the death planet, when he is abruptly kidnapped by Mikah, a religious zealot who wants to return dinAlt to Cassylia, the gambling planet, for execution. dinAlt manages to disable Mikah's spaceship, causing the two of them to crash-land on a barren wasteland of a planet where slavery and treachery are ways of life. dinAlt manages to stay alive using his knowledge of science and technology, while trading philosophical barbs with Mikah, who's moral and dogmatic approach to their predicament often presents more problems than it solves.

Review: Deathworld 2 isn't a huge departure from Deathworld, with the exception that the planet is far more interesting: the plot is a bit of a bastard cross of Star Trek, Planet of the Apes and Mad Max, although in reality, it is more of a precursor to all of the above. The only holdovers from the original cast of characters are dinAlt and Meta, and the plot holes increase: how is Jason able to understand and remember such details of industry and technology with no background in science or engineering? And whatever happened to dinAlt's "psi" power, an important plot point in the first novel, if not a properly developed one? It remains all but forgotten in this novel. Harrison has a vivid imagination, but sometimes it overshadows his ability as a writer.

Most disturbing is the philosophical battle between science and religion, caricatured in dinAlt and Mikah: dinAlt is the courageous non-believer, a strong, intelligent, practical man who uses science and reason to solve his problems and uses a humanistic ethical code to inform his decisions (in fact, the novel was first serialized under the title The Ethical Engineer), while Mikah is portrayed as a stubborn, dogmatic zealot with backwards logic who never succeeds in doing more good than harm. Harrison dispenses with any subtelty on this matter, and abandons allegory for hamfisted caricature. Maybe this was novel or en vogue in the mid-sixties, but any modern, intelligent reader would find such straw man arguments juvenile, and Harrison's soapbox sermons about the glories of technology and the evils of faith in a novel of high fantastic adventure is distracting and rather irritating (any lit undergrads who want to contrast Harrison and Frank Herbert would have a field day comparing Deathworld 2 and say, The Jesus Incident).

Deathworld 2 is more interesting than its predecessor and definitely worth a read, and it may be a treasured book for some young self-styled atheist sci-fi fan who is looking to find more heroes of the non-faith to look up to.

[J. · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a pretty lame book. First, the actual plot is just the most hackneyed sci-fi plot ever, like something a 7th grader would write. There is absolutely no character development (you could completely remove the main character and replace him with pretty much anyone--Jim DiGriz from the Stainless Steel Rat series, Abraham Lincoln, Buzz Lightyear, anybody--and it would have no bearing on the actual plot, just maybe on the dialogue.

And the dialogue is what makes it really unbearable. The main character Jason is stuck with this super-religious fanatic Mikah, who is a portrait of unthinking Morality in every way a religious person could be. For a brief moment, it seems as if some satire is going to happen, but then it is gone. Every few chapters, we just take a break from anything happening so these two can have a long, Socrates-style debate about morality. It's as subtle as hammer. But it gets worse: it should be easy to spoof this Mikah character, but Jason's position is just as ridiculous in the other direction (no absolutes, all morality is contingent, blah blah...) but the book (author?) doesn't seem aware of any possible problems with this position. It's like two people arguing over whether it's better to remove your own finger or your own leg, with the author taking the position that *obviously* it's better to lose a finger, without ever addressing that maybe there's another option. We could, for instance, not chop off any body parts at all!

It left me with the feeling that Harrison really held Jason's position about morality and religion, and was trying to proselytize without ever thinking his position out very deeply. But that sounds exactly like the religious mindset he's spoofing! I just don't get it.

[prcardi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Storyline: 3/5
Characters: 1/5
Writing Style: 3/5
World: 3/5

There was something inexplicably fascinating about Harrison's pulp science fiction Deathworld. Original, creative, and often surprising, it lilted along in an unfamiliar and exotic fashion. Deathworld 2 doesn't repeat any of that. None. We do get to follow up with Jason dinAlt, but he never behaves as the Jason dinAlt of the first book. His abilities and experiences from the Deathworld don't seem to contribute to his character here, and for the most part the events of the first book might as well not have happened. This really reads like it was a separate story entirely - not of Deathworld origins - and Harrison spent spent a few minutes swapping out the original character's name with Jason dinAlt and throwing in a few references to justify the common title.

So, it is a poor Deathworld book because it really isn't a Deathworld book. Still, there was something here to be enjoyed. It was humorous at times: entertaining in an episodic, comedy of errors kind of way - though never as witty with scenarios or crafty with language as Jack Vance's The Dying Earth. The characters are a farce, mere vehicles to move through the landscape. That landscape is actually pretty neat, but Vance parades us through it so quickly that we never get to appreciate it as more than tourists. Also, I do hope that Harrison didn't intend for us to take his discussion on ethics seriously. It was slapdash pulp but above average slapdash pulp with some fun engineering problem solving thrown in.

[Al "Tank" · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jason dinAlt was finally adjusted to the heavy-gravity planet of Pyrrus and has a girlfriend among the trigger-happy denizens of the human population of survivors. But the long arm of the law is still after him and he's kidnapped via trickery and ends up, after a malfunction, on another dangerous planet. This time, the danger comes from other humans in a very primative "dog eat dog" society.

He's immediately made a slave and has to learn to survive and possibly escape back to Pyrrus.

To do this, he has to jump a number of hoops and that's one of the things that slows the story down. Of course, without the events, it would just be a novelette. Once I quit worrying about the drag on the plot, I enjoyed the yarn and let it take me where it went.

[Irissska · Rating 2 out of 5]

The first book is much better and more interesting than this one. This book reminded me A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Twain in some way.
I wonder how he knew all these things? If I am asked about chemistry, electricity, etc I will not answer even if my life depends on this. How does he remember, he is a gambler not a scientist. Ok, maybe I am mistaken, I am better in liberal arts and cannot be a specialist in this. But my husband is an engineer, i asked him if he would be able to do everything Jason did and he said "mostly no".

[Петър Стойков · Rating 4 out of 5]

Продължението на "сагата" (егати сагата от три тънички книжки, но в това е очарованието им, вярвате или не) на слабака, попаднал на планета с "истински мъже", дето му се налага криво ляво да оцелява.

Този пък, обществото там е по интересен начин разделено технологично, като различните групировки пазят далечни спомени от различните клонове на индустрията, закодирани в примитивни религиозни вярвания и ритуали, а нашият "герой" използва знанията си от обща култура, за да се спаси.

[Ryan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Imagine Deathworld without the original environment, characters with no feelings, and any form of interesting sci-fi components and you'll have yourself Deathworld 2. I was really let down by this sequel. Its one redeeming quality was the humorous nature of Harrison that is present in all his works.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book feels very A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court with some additional philosophy added in that I will get to later. Jason also has some MCU Iron Man, obviously this book predates the movie, but his mechanic-ing weapons seems very, “Tony Stark built this in a cave with a box of scraps! “

The proto-Iron Man, Jason DinAlt is different on this Deathworld. He is leaning more into the male competency fantasy. He was always charismatic and confident, but he is more aware of being the main character. His actions reflect his invulnerability.

Now, back to this basic philosophy that Harrison hammered us with for some odd reason. Harrison is getting at a cross of social constructionism and moral anti-realism versus absolute or divine morality. But, the inhabitant of Deathworld 2 and Jason’s irritating companion, Mikah, are so profoundly obtuse that this is a caricature of any type of argument.

But, I did enjoy reading the book. Probably because it is this superiority fantasy of modern people. Something akin to, it’d be neat to be the first to invent the wheel and then also invent the car right after because I’m so smart and primitive people are stupid. Which in of itself is stupid, because they weren’t any less intelligent. They are adapted and optimized by their environment, which is a point Harrison is making, but then it collapses by making them stupid so he doesn’t have to make any real arguments.

I give it 3 horrible tasting krenoj out of 5.

[Rikard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vintage Harry Harrison. The protagonist is stranded on a planet where society and technology has more or less crashed. Some states have steam power, another electricity. The hero navigates this disaster with sheer opportunism and cunning.

In Harrisons world the common language in the galactic empire is esperanto, so the protagonist can easily communicate with all people on the planet.

The book is available on gutenberg.org

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

The appeal of the original "Deathworld", the central thing that really made it tick, was the actual Deathworld. Inexplicably, Harrison sets the sequel on a different world which is definitely a miserable place but, crucially, not a Deathworld. Bizarre choice. The protagonist carries across but he's pretty insufferable.

[J.D. Sutter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not nearly as good as the first one. Mikah is an unbearably annoying character, the long philosophical debates between Jason and Mikah weighed down the story and were all the more frustrating because I didn't really agree with either of them on all points. And Jason's stupid arrogance was the cause for the entire problem that was the basis of the story to begin with. An ok story, but I hope book 3 is better.

[Lacivard Mammadova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Birinci hissənin layiqli davamı. Həmişə narahat oluram ki, birdən ikinci hissə başqa olar, qəhrəman dəyişər. Burada da əvvəlki hissədəki kimi cənab Dinaltın necə əsl centlmen biri olduğunu, soyuq düşündüyünü və gözəl intellektə sahibliyinin şahidiyik. Bir də səbrli.. çox səbrli..

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Jason DinAlt < James diGriz

[Doodles McC · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved deathworld series as a child. Harrisons simple style ensures his funny sci fi stories are enjoyed by all ages. Jason dinAlt travels to the deadliest world to be colonised by humans.

[hanna · Rating 2 out of 5]

ever since I read hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, I’ve been trying to find a sci-fi series that captivates me as much as that one. I have not found it yet

[Andy P · Rating 3 out of 5]

Painfully short but good all the same. It doesn't have the interest of the first in the series but it's good to see how Jason manages in a dog-eat-dog word rather than a dog-eat-man world.

[Mantas Balakauskas]

Dievo režimas

Harry Harrisonas gali būti vadinamas tikru fantastinės bondiados klasiku ir satyros meistru. Jo kūrinius lengva skaityti, bėda, kad jie dažnai nebūna labai įsimintini. Nors gal tai nėra pagrindinis nuotykinės fantastikos rašytojo tikslas.
Knygą, „Etikos specialistas“ sudaro pagrindė istorija, tokiu pat pavadinimu ir dar keletas mažesnės apimties kūrinių. Knygos viršelis susijęs, tik su pagrindiniu knygos pasakojimu. Erdvėlaivis pakibęs virš raudonai švytinčios Pyro planetos paviršiaus. Iš pastarosios kartu su veikėjais dingsime po pirmųjų trijų istorijos puslapių, bet iš pradžių derėtų papasakoti apie trumpuosius kūrinius, o tada galima pereiti prie pagrindinės istorijos.
„Atstumtasis“ – kūrinys suteikęs vilties, kad visa knyga turi potencialo būti įdomia. Veiksmas plėtojamas erdvėlaivyje skrendančiame į kitą galaktiką. Kosminiu laivu keliauja pagrindinis apsakymo veikėjas Origas Lamas. Pastarasis yra daktaras, kurį vadina „budeliu“ (ir jis tikrai nenori bendrakeleiviams pasakoti kodėl). Iš visų knygoje pateiktų kūrinių ši istorija man patiko labiausiai. Nors yra paprasta, skaitosi lengvai, o pabaiga primena serialo įžanginį epizodą.
„Karas su robotais“ – istorija apie tai, kaip genetiškai modifikuotas karininkas, vardu Peras, veda savo karius į mūšį. Vieną iš daugelio nesibaigiančiame kare. Detalesnės informacijos apie patį konfliktą iš esmės nepateikiama. Herojams tenka keliauti į požeminę bazę, nes jų traukinį užpuola priešai. Prasideda keisti įvykiai, nes karas automatizuotas ir žmonės patys priima labai mažai reikšmingų sprendimų. Net ir būdami genetiškai modifikuoti, jie yra priklausomi nuo viską apskaičiuojančio dirbtinio intelekto. Kūrinio stilius lengvas, nėra sunku sekti siužetinę liniją. Dėmesį patraukia ir didysis apsakymo priešas, kurio veikimo principus galima apibūdinti kaip nestandartinius. Paskutinis herojaus ištartas sakinys primena kultinę frazę iš filmo „Beždžionių planeta“: „You Maniacs! You blew it up!”. Deja, lieka neaišku, kam veikėjas tai sako. Pabaigęs skaityti lieki šiek tiek sumišęs, bet patenkintas, kad nesugaišai daug laiko.
„Prie krioklio“ – trumpiausias ir mano nuomone, prasčiausias rinkinio kūrinys apie žurnalistą Karterį. Kūrinio veikėjas kopia į kalną ieškodamas krioklio, kurio viduje gyvena žmogus, vardu Bodemas. Pastarasis personažas atrodo gana nykus. Iš pirmo žvilgsnio galima pamanyti, jog jam rūpi vienintelis dalykas – kad apie jį kas nors parašytų. Apie Bodemą sužinoti daugiau nepavyksta. Atvykęs į šio veikėjo buveinę, tekančiame krioklio vandenyje Karteris išvysta kitų pasaulių vaizdų nuotrupas. Tuo tarpu Bodemas istorijos herojui parodo rastą popierėlį, ant jo parašytas vienintelis žodis – „Padėkite“. Čia apsakymas ir pasibaigia. Daugiau niekas nepaaiškinama. Kūrinys per daug trumpas ir visiškai neišplėtotas.
„Iš fanatizmo arba už atlyginimą“ – „šaudyk ir gaudyk“ žanro pasakojimas tiesiai iš tėvo videko kasečių spintos. Šiame pasakojime samdomas žudikas Džeigenas vykdo misiją. Profesionalas apsižioplina ir netyčia palieka pėdsaką. To užtenka, kad jam ant kulnų pradėtų minti robotas Persekiotojas. Džeigeno jis nepailsdamas ieško daugybę metų. Ką su juo daro, kai suranda? Filosofuoja. Štai toks kūrinėlis. Visai smagus ir neblogas apšilimas prieš pradedant skaityti pagrindinę istoriją.
„Etikos specialisto“ pasakojimą galima skirti į tris dalis. Dėl savo struktūros jis šiek tiek primena kompiuterinio žaidimo lygmenis. Vykdomos užduotys, o lygio pabaigoje laukia „bosas“, kurį reikia įveikti, kad galėtum judėti toliau.
Pirmojoje dalyje pagrindinis veikėjas Jasonas DiAltas yra pagrobiamas fanatiko, vardu Maikas. Šiam rūpi tik labai keistai suprantamos teisybės formos. Jos siekis pasireiškia absurdiškiausiais būdais. Maikas „išjungia“ logiką ir kaip filosofuojanti šimpanzė leidžia sau rėkauti, taškytis seilėmis ir purvais bei visiems trukdyti. Jis visur ir visada jaučiasi teisus, net kai jam į galvą nukreiptas pistoletas arba prie gerklės pridedamas peilis dėl jo paties kaltės. Mūsų herojams skrendant į fanatiko Maiko sugalvotą teismą, jų kosminis laivas netikėtai nukrenta keistoje planetoje. Čia veikėjai atsiduria pavojuje – yra paimami į nelaisvę laukinių, vadovaujamų vado, vardu Čaka. Iš esmės tai ir vardas ir titulas. Laukiniai kaip personažai, yra supaprastinti iki beprotybės – neturi jokių žmonėms būdingų savybių. Jų bendruomenės veiklos principai susideda iš keleto primityvių elementų. Vadas valdo vergus, o jie renka valgomąsias šaknis – krenodžius. Jei nori pakilti hierarchijos laiptais, turi užmušti vadą ir užimti jo vietą.
Vystantis siužetui, fanatikas Maikas parduodamas kitam šeimininkui. Tuo tarpu Jasonas susipažįsta su mergina vardu Aidžela. Tai veikėja kuriai nesivarginama suteikti asmenybės ar įdomesnių charakterio bruožų. Deja, žmogų ji primena tik tiek, kiek popierinės lėlės, ant kurių vaikai kabina rūbelius. Viskas ką šis personažas daro – tai dreba arba pasyviai stebi. Atrodo, kad Aidžela į pasakojimą įpinama tik tam, kad kam nors nepasirodytų jog visas kūrinys – nesibaigiantis dešrelių festivalis. Praleista puiki proga sukurti personažą galintį atsverti raumenis demonstruojančius vyrukus. Bet grįžkime prie siužeto. Čia vėl galime prisiminti kūrinio paraleles su kompiuteriniu žaidimu. Jasonui atsibosta žaisti, todėl jis tiesiog užmuša laukinių vadą Čaką ir tampa jo pakalikų vadu. Bosas įveiktas. Keliaukime į antrąjį „lygį“.
Herojus supa postapokaliptinė aplinka. Visur pilna mitais ir religiniais ritualais apgaubtų senojo pasaulio nuotrupų. Nesėkmingo susitikimo metu Jasonas ir jo vergai patenka į kiek aukštesnio ‚levelio“, laukinio Edipono rankas. Ediponas ir jo kompanija gamina karo mašinas, vadinamas „karodžais“. Suprask, nuo žodžio carriage (karieta).
Jasonas, sugalvoja suvienyti jėgas su anksčiau sulaikytais vergais ir įvykdyti perversmą. Siekdamas tikslo, veikėjas pradeda „kabinti makaronus“ aukščiausiajam vadui Ediponui, žadėdamas patobulinti jo technikos gamybos metodus. Kitaip tariant, uždirbti pastarajam krūvas pinigų. Viskas ko mūsų herojui esą reikia mainais – didesnė erdvė, geresnės gyvenimo sąlygos, kažkodėl fanatikas Maikas ir popierinė Aidžela. Deja, gavus tai, ko buvo prašoma, Jasonui tenka pasigailėti. Mano „nuostabai“ fanatikas Maikas visus išduoda. Kompanijai ir bėgantiems vergams tenka nešti kudašių į trečią žaidimo, atsiprašau, knygos lygmenį.
Situacija kartojasi. Jasoną išduoda mažiausiai civilizuotas, todėl pagal knygos logiką žemiausia morale pasižymintis bei godžiausias vergas, vardu Snarbis. Pagrobėją Eidiponą pakeičia kitas – Hertugas. Mūsų pagrindinis herojus sugeba „kabinti makaronus“ ir šiam priešininkui. Įtikina jį, kad gali sukurti aparatą, siunčiantį žinutes dievams (iš tiesų Jasonas bando ištransliuoti į kosmosą SOS pagalbos signalą.
Čia ir vėl koją pakiša ne kas kitas, kaip fanatikas Maikas. Šį kartą jis įtikina kitus laukinius, kad Jasonas, tobulindamas įvairiausias mašinas, keičia jėgų balansą. Kyla suirutė. Jasonas sukonstruoja šarvuotą laivą su į jį įmontuota katapulta ir parodo priešininkams, iš kur valgomosios šaknys dygsta. Deja, mūsų herojui nepasiseka – jis persmeigiamas kardu. Sunkiai sužeistam Jasonui tenka kentėti neturint jokių vaistų. Laukiniai pernelyg paprasti, kad nuolat kariaudami būtų sugalvoję atitinkamų metodų galinčių padėti. Laimei čia ir vėl nusišypso sėkmė – kosmose SOS signalą užfiksuoja aktyviai jo ieškantis erdvėlaivis. Herojus išgelbėjamas. Kartu su savimi jis pasiima ir Maiką bei Aidželą.
Kūrinys baigiasi gana keistai. Jasonui kyla „nuostabi“ mintis Maiką ir Aidželą išlaipinti kokioje nors planetoje. Fanatikas Maikas nesusižavi idėja ir pradeda grasinti bei plūstis, todėl yra be jokių ceremonijų likviduojamas, nes knyga artėja prie pabaigos. Vargšė Aidžela tiesiog išleidžiama nežinomoje planetoje. Sprendimo logika paprasta – išgyveno su laukiniais, išgyvens ir kitoje civilizacijoje.
Autorius rašo sklandžiai ir tai yra viskas, ko galima reikalauti iš tokio tipo nuotykinės fantastikos. Istorija paprasta, kaip krenodžius kemšantys laukiniai. Fanatikas Maikas erzina, bet tuo pačiu yra įdomiausias knygos veikėjas, nes be jo, "Etikos specialistas" būtų nuobodus kūrinys.

Penkios valgomosios šaknys iš dešimties.