MIND OVER SHIP

Sequel to Marusek's well-received debut, Counting Heads (2005).

By the 22nd century, nanotechnology, immortality, clones, robots and artificial intelligences called mentars are commonplace. Because Earth now groans beneath 15 billion individuals, Bishop Merrill Meewee devised the Garden Earth Project: to seed the galaxy with human colonists, in ships that will take centuries to reach their destinations. Others, alas, wish to sabotage the GEP and instead build space condos—to their vast profit. In the previous volume, Eleanor Starke of Starke Enterprises, a powerful supporter of the GEP, was assassinated, along with most of her daughter, Ellen. Ellen’s head survived and was grafted onto a cloned body; unfortunately, the body’s only 16 months old, so Ellen is preoccupied with childish matters. However, conspiracies and power struggles won’t wait. Andrea Tiekel and powerful mentar E-Pluribus (the space condo faction) have already moved to subvert the Starke mentars and their clone employment agency, Applied People. Andrea also arranges to convince Ellen that Eleanor is dead and Ellen should sell the crucial Starke energy concern, Heliostream, to Andrea's allies. In fact, Meewee later learns, Eleanor downloaded her mind into a pond full of brainy fish and hence is in some sense alive. Meanwhile, husband-and-wife clones Mary Skarland and Fred Londenstane have their own problems. Fred, obsessed with the malady known as clone fatigue, flees into space, while Mary suffers an existential meltdown. All this barely hints at the marvels within, and Marusek does some equally fascinating stage-setting for the next volume.

Granted, readers new to the series will have a tough time figuring out what’s going on. The solution is obvious: Read Counting Heads first and don’t miss a word of this complex, challenging, extraordinary saga.