y the year 2033, androids known as "forma" are common: humanoids built with "biomech components and an AI or EI brain." (EI brains are those constructed intelligences that have become truly sentient, perhaps even possessed of souls.) Our heroine, Samantha "Sam" Bryton, is no small factor in the success and proliferation of these creatures, being one of the world's most talented biomech scientists. Now retired at a young age, wealthy from her discoveries, Sam wants nothing more than to quietly reassess her life among the redwoods of northern California. But fate is about to involve her in a dramatic adventure that will lead to a global restructuring of the relations between humans and formas.
Onto her beachfront property washes up an injured man. Nursing him back to health, Sam is distressed to hear his story. Turner Pascal is a forma, conventionally human to the eyes but possessed of remarkable powers. He can alter his body's shape to some degree, for instance, or interface directly with any machine that taps the "mesh," the future equivalent of the World Wide Web. And his brain, a distributed network of filaments throughout his body, is still maturing. But most importantly, that brain was not constructed from scratch. There was once an actual human being named Turner Pascal, an average fellow whose fresh corpse was stolen by the enigmatic criminal mastermind named Charon. Charon mapped Turner's neurons onto the forma's blank slate, in effect uploading him into the android in the first-ever such case. But along with more conventional robots, the formas are denied all the prerogatives and status of real humans. What does that make Turner Pascal? It's a question he and Sam may not get to solve. Because the deadly and merciless Charon is out to reclaim his "property."
Sam and Turner leave the redwoods in Sam's "spy car," a vehicle she bought during a prior industrial fracas. But their pursuers are persistent, and Sam turns to an old friend, Gen. Thomas Wharington. Wharington arranges for a helicopter rescue. But the armed forces are permeated with spies, and Sam and Turner are abducted to one of Charon's hideouts in the Himalayas. They escape and manage to return to the United States. Now, with the military compromised, their only hope is to find the legendary Sunrise Alley, the refuge of free EIs. They succeed, but the EI underground is not as welcoming as they had hoped. Even here, Charon has influence. Cast out, they are once more on the run, relying on no one but themselves, a situation that causes romance to blossom between them. But no amount of speed or distance can evade the nasty surprise that Charon has implanted in Turner.
An underachiever turns superior
Noted for her award-winning space operas of the Skolian Empire, which feature a healthy heaping of romance in the bodice-ripping sense, Catherine Asaro here turns her keen eye and speculative abilities closer to home. This near-future tale, while still featuring Asaro's signature focus on a competent yet lovelorn female who finds a perfect mate in the most unlikely situation, is a valuable addition to the canon of SF that asks the question "What makes us human?"
Like David Brin in his recent Kiln People (2002), Asaro hits on a perfect embodiment of this quandary, in the form of Turner Pascal. His previous existence as a charming, unintelligent underachiever contrasts so highly with his new superbody and evolving mind that questions stand out in sharp relief: Why should a schlubby guy who happened to be born of woman be considered better than a super-powered entity that happened to be constructed? And the interplay between Sam and her new boyfriend is handled deftly as well, with any treacle kept to a minimum. In fact, Asaro even ventures into some weird moments reminiscent of Philip K. Dick, as when Turner begins to shed his physical humanity and Sam finds herself turned on nonetheless.
As for the suspense/thriller aspects of her tale, Asaro gets a good kind of Keith Laumer vibe going. One minute Sam is relaxing at home, and the next the ground has been undercut beneath her. Her adventures, once they get rolling, never really stop, cramming a lot of action into the space of just a week or so. And the cascade of revelations that climax the book are effective, although I did deduce one of the surprises about Charon's real identity ahead of time. I also felt that Alpha, Charon's hard-ass female henchperson, was under-utilized a bit. As the obvious bad girl to Sam's good girl, Alpha could have at least made a play for Turner's affections. But that's just my dramaturgical impulse. Finally, Asaro's witty neologisms—"clever cards," "burt walls"—deserve some kudos.
Turner Pascal is an engaging stranger in a strange world, even if he was actually born here—twice!
