ancy Kress encourages readers to ponder the negative implications of biomedical progress in her latest short story collection. All of the stories were written between 1991 and 1997, appearing in various magazines and anthologies such as Asimov's Science Fiction and Omni. Each story begins with an introduction by the author, providing insights about the story and the writer, while eight of the 13 examine social and ethical concerns related to genetic engineering. Admitting to an obsession on this topic, Kress appropriately begins her collection with the Hugo Award-winning novella "Beggars in Spain." This story of genetically altered humans who require no sleep served as the basis for the popular Beggars series.
Gene alteration also plays a prominent role in "Margin of Error," where it becomes painfully obvious that the person performing genetic alterations can be more important than the alterations themselves. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are the subject of "Evolution." If there's only one antibiotic left that's still effective against infection, what happens when it is over-prescribed? Most of these stories have a serious bent, but bioengineering moves from life-threatening to frivolous when designer drugs are used in conjunction with fashion trends to complete "the look" for each season in "Always True to Thee, In My Fashion."
Not all of the collection concerns itself with genetic engineering. "Unto the Daughters" features a retelling of the creation story by the crafty Serpent, whose rendition of Adam and Eve in the garden is a little different from the one recorded in Genesis. Walt Disney's story also develops otherwise when a supposedly helpful schoolteacher attempts to talk him out of drawing crude cartoons in "Ars Longa."
Truth and consequences
Kress has an uncanny ability to identify the emotional hazards resulting from the dictates of technology. In this arena, her fiction carries a special poignancy that is often surprising, sometimes depressing and almost always revealing. As she states in her introduction, "Scientific laboratories are where the new technologies are rehearsed. Science fiction rehearses the implications of those technologies. What might we eventually do with our newfound power? Should we do it? Who should do it? Who will be affected? How? Is that a good thing or not? For whom?" Most of the stories in this collection attempt to answer some of the above questions, and in the process provide some reality checks for the future.
Reality is the subject of "Flowers of Aulit Prison," where shared common reality is only for the "real" and where the "unreal" are considered criminals, until Terrans arrive and shake up the system. The combined themes of reality, perception, and genetic engineering are best captured in "Dancing on Air." Here, the highly competitive world of professional ballet demands that successful dancers subject themselves to dangerous experimental bioenhancements. Parents insisting on perfection relegate their children to a life as devoid of choices as Angel, the bioenhanced guard dog who protects New York City's prima ballerina.
With all of these tales, Kress delivers on her promise to tell stories about "what might come out of the beakers and test tubes and gene sequences of microbiology." She also shares encounters with the alien and not-so-alien to remind readers of their humanity and how careful they must be not to lose it.
n the 1997 novel Deception Well, Linda Nagata told the story of Lot, the adolescent son of a charismatic cult leader who forced his way from space into the cloud city known as Silk. Because the leaders of Silk thought Lot dangerous, they kept him a prisoner as he was growing up. He escaped their influence, led an uprising of the younger, oppressed citizens of Silk, fled to the strange world below for a time, and eventually had to leave the planet with a few of his friends on the spaceship Null Boundary.
Along the way, he discovered that he, like his father, was infected with the cult virus, a weapon introduced into the human species by the Chenzeme, an ancient race whose spaceships roamed the galaxy destroying any life not Chenzeme. The cult virus allowed those like Lot to manipulate the thoughts and feelings of others.
In this sequel, Nagata picks up the story with Lot and his friends Urban, Clemantine and Nikko deep in space. The group wants to find the source of the Chenzeme, and hopefully find some way to defeat them, though no one knows whether they even still exist as a race. The available evidence suggests the Chenzeme warships have been patrolling for at least 30 million years. And now one is following the Null Boundary.
Using nanotechnology, the Boundary's crew has managed to grow philosopher cells on their ship's hull. These same cells cover the Chenzeme ship, and hopefully they will convince the enemy vessel that the Boundary is really Chenzeme and should be left alone. It seems to work. The warship continues to follow them, but does not attack. Lot begins to learn how to control the philosopher cells, and though the risks are immense, he believes he might be able to attract the Chenzeme ship into a close encounter, giving the Boundary an up-close view of Chenzeme strengths and weaknesses.
Solid adventure
Although the best parts of Vast are not as compelling as the best parts of Deception Well, Nagata's sequel manages to avoid its predecessor's weaknesses. Here, Nagata keeps a consistent narrative throughout the novel. Although almost the whole novel takes place aboard a spaceship with only a few characters, she brings this setting alive far more vividly than she did the city of Silk. Although it would have been nice to explore in more detail the evolutionary effects on the human mind of such technologies as ghosting (transferring the mind electronically to a computer) and nanotechnological replication of the body based on DNA data, Nagata does show how it alters the risks her characters are willing to take. And the ship, through its various transformations, becomes a very familiar place by the end.
However, while Vast has plenty of virtues, there is the sense that it doesn't quite achieve its aspirations. For one thing, the end is not nearly as profound as the novel seems to warrant. Perhaps the larger issue is that the background story of humans as the last known species resisting the Chenzeme slaughter, and apparently losing, could be the vehicle for a transcendent narrative. But this group of characters, acting as they do here, never transform the story beyond a competent, engaging adventure story.
Overall, Vast is a solid novel, with real tension and excitement, and some strong ideas, but it falls a bit short of being among the best contemporary science fiction. Nagata has a fascinating universe here, and she's good enough already that it may only be a matter of time before she finds the breakthrough story that elevates her to the field's elite. In the meantime, Vast should provide an enjoyable read for many science fiction fans.
