arli D'Auber is many things--newly divorced, a loving aunt, the daughter of a powerful senator...and a scientific genius. She's also the target of simultaneous kidnapping and assassination plots, and one of the few characters in Proxies to stay in her own body from beginning to end.
It is the 21st century, and global warming and environmental catastrophes hold sway over an increasingly parched Earth. Virtual reality and the science of telepresence--beanlinking consciousness into a synthetic body called a waldo--have become escape valves for a populace working to restore the ecological balance. Carli has made a significant contribution to the science of telepresence, inventing a near-instantaneous form of communication called an omni. However, development of the omni has stalled since Carli left the company that stole her brainchild.
Now a group of scientists and child waldo pilots wants her to take up the research again. The children have spent their lives in interface crèches, learning to operate top-secret waldos called proxies that can pass for human beings. These children, along with ruthless head researcher Dr. Patricia Taylor (known as Mother to the young pilots) plan to hijack Earth's first interstellar mission. A faster means of information transmission is the team's only hope of success, and Carli is the only one capable of making the necessary breakthrough.
The young pilots are incredibly sophisticated programmers, capable of creating autonomous copies of their own personalities known as twins. Pablo, the oldest of the twinned pilots, is terribly conflicted over the hijacking plot. Pablo works loyally to bring Carli into Mother's clutches; at the same time, his twin Buddy dispatches a renegade proxy to assassinate Carli and foil the hijacking. The lives of the ship's astronauts, the future of the space program and Carli's survival will all ultimately depend on which personality wins.
Evocative of Cadigan and Stephenson
Proxies is an ideal book for anyone who enjoys visiting a complex milieu like that of Pat Cadigan's Fools or the intrigues of a Neal Stephenson novel. Mixon's Earth is enormously different from the real world, a possible future that is chilling and plausible without being immediately predictable. The language of that world is similarly elaborate, immersing readers in a sense of being someplace that, while strange, is nevertheless faintly familiar. This makes for some hard going at times, when it becomes difficult to visualize what some of the marvelous things in this world actually look like. This does not, however, detract from an enjoyable read.
The novel is not without weaknesses, particularly in the area of character. In a cast of dozens, Carli stands out as the most interesting and sympathetic, and the fact that she is not a waldo pilot gives readers a much-needed anchor in a tale where people are constantly flipping in and out of proxies and swapping personalities. The lesser characters are given shorter shrift--Carli's father and ex-husband, in particular, are scantily developed despite their profound influence on her. And while glimpses of the crèche children's day-to-day lives are tantalizing, they are also rare. Yet the storylines involving other characters are nonetheless engaging. Carli's draft-dodging nephew, Paint, is especially delightful. And a waldo-pilot named David has some highly entertaining adventures as he tries to stop the assassin.
Best of all, the ending of Proxies is utterly unpredictable, and everything--the hijacking, Pablo's internal struggle, Carli's fate--hangs in the balance until the last paragraph. Mixon instills readers with a sense of breathless anticipation, builds the suspense masterfully and even manages, in the end, to pay off. This is a remarkable and worthwhile accomplishment.
he Michaels Co. is a top-notch outfit specializing in the analysis of security systems throughout the galaxy. It is particularly well known for its skill in locating and neutralizing nanobot hives, a randomly occurring technological anomaly that can completely disable entire computer systems. Customers are unaware that the company's success is due in large part to the cooperation of the eight distinct personalities that reside within the body of the company's owner, Lance Blackstone.
Each personality has a unique set of skills that benefits the security business, so Lance is reluctant to seek a cure for his ailment even though he is aware that he suffers from multiple personality disorder. But living with the menagerie inside his skull is not always easy. In fact, Lance's condition can be disastrous when it comes to dealing with his father, a demented billionaire whose ever-vigilant operatives are trying to locate, abduct and return the prodigal son back to his patriarch.
Lance is terrified at the thought of falling under the reign of the manipulative Jonathan Blackstone once again. Understandable, because his father is a brutally sadistic control freak who has the money and power to enforce his will on others. The deep psychological scars Lance bears are the direct result of the elder Blackstone's attempts to create his own warped version of a perfect son. Now, unable to accept his father or forgive his mother, Lance is unaware of a plot by Jonathan Blackstone that will insure Lance's return as the obedient son and dutiful heir-apparent to his father's financial empire.
Listen to the voices in your head
Multiple personality disorder is a pretty incredible topic in its own right, but combining it with a few science fiction elements makes for some very interesting possibilities. Author Steven Piziks does a commendable job of mixing MPD with nanotechnology and artificial intelligence to create a fast-paced adventure that is not for the faint of heart. Jonathan Blackstone is an abusive husband and father whose anger knows no bounds. Both wife and son are victims of his rage, but it is the son Lance who must endure continual punishment and medical modification when he fails to meet his father's physical or behavioral expectations.
Some readers may find the gritty descriptions of rape, beatings, electrical shock, burying alive and other tortures offensive (though they are not too detailed). Yet it is these horrors that prompt Lance's internal defenses to create personalities to cope with his situation. There is rarely a dull moment when the main character is not only Lance but also Garth, Jessica, Johnny, Patrick, Andy, Jay and Grandpa Jack. And then there is Robin, whose voice rises above the rest and claims to be an artificial intelligence residing in Lance's nanobot-enhanced body.
The book alternates between Lance's current-day adventures--attempting to evade the clutches of a seemingly omnipotent father--and flashbacks that reveal Lance's bone-chilling childhood. At certain points readers are asked to take leaps of faith in accepting the story line, but the ideas presented are intriguing enough to put doubts temporarily on hold and get to the end of the story.
