Chindi
by Jack McDevitt
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Book Summary Information
Author: Jack McDevittEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2003-10-28
ISBN: 0441011020
Number of pages: 528
Publisher: Ace
Book Reviews of Chindi
Book Review: Good solid deep space adventure
Summary: 4 Stars
_Chindi_ by Jack McDevitt is a well done hard science fiction novel, to me a good "meat and potatoes" adventure set in deep space, with lots of action, mysteries to solve, a good deal of science, and a real almost Golden Age sense of wonder. I did not know the novel was part of a series when I began it, only discovering this to be the case after I read some reviews of it after I had finished. Though events from other novels in the series were briefly referenced, _Chindi_ for me worked quite well as a stand-alone book.
By the early 23rd century (the book ends in the 2228), humanity has been cruising through the stars in faster-than-light ships known as superluminals for almost fifty years. Although there were understandably high expectations at first, very little in the way of extraterrestrial intelligence has been discovered by the beginning of the events in _Chindi_. Only one spacefaring civilization has been discovered, called the Noks, though they are at a stage that would appear equivalent to 20th century Earth. In addition, the Nok's civilization is highly fractured along various social lines and it would appear has proved very frustrating to those among humanity who wished to have relations with it. Except for the Noks, what humanity has found to date have been ruins. Places such as Quraqua, Pinnacle, and Beta Pac have produced intriguing, often highly enigmatic ruins and artifacts, even evidence that there were once interstellar species, but not one living, intelligent, civilized being (though some savage, Stone Age groups have been discovered, humanity it seems avoids them). Civilization it would appear in the big scheme of things is rather short-lived. The universe is cold, dark, and lonely.
Though the Academy of Science and Technology was founded in part to study these ruins on the various worlds, there are still those who are unsatisfied with xenoarchaeology and instead long for a meaningful exchange with a living, breathing preferably elder race, one perhaps that would have the secrets to the deep mysteries of life, or at least be able to provide an interesting exchange on philosophical issues (why the Noks are not at least interesting conversational partners was never explained). One such group of individuals is the Contact Society, a maligned group of mostly amateurs (scientists avoid the group for the fear it will damage their professional reputations) still eagerly seeking out a spacefaring, advanced, extraterrestrial intelligence. Thought of as generally at best as a bunch of mildly eccentric amateurs, at worst as crackpots and lunatics, nonetheless several of its members are quite wealthy and influential. One member of the Contact Society, George Hockleman, is a multibillionaire and an important sponsor to the generally fund-starved Academy, while others are well known in the entertainment industry, such as Tor Kirby, a worlds renowned painter, and Alyx Ballinger, an actress.
A deep space survey ship, orbiting the neutron star VV651107, received an anomalous reading, a two second apparently artificial radio signal. Greatly intrigued, the survey ship stayed in the system for as long as it could in order to try to determine its source and destination, launching various satellites to do so, but was forced to return to Earth empty-handed after six months of fruitless searching. This discovery became quite well known and while most in the scientific community seemed to have become resigned to the notion that it may have been a sensor glitch, members of the Contact Society felt otherwise. Putting pressure on the Academy, Syliva Virgil, the Director of Operations, recruited superluminal captain Priscilla Hutchins (the main character of the novel) to pilot a ship, the _City of Memphis_, out towards 1107. Though Hutchins was wanting to quit working for the Academy after a rescue mission that was very nearly botched by several Academy bureaucrats, Virgil persuaded "Hutch" that all she had to do was ferry several member of the Contact Society - including Hockleman, Kirby, and Ballinger among others - to 1107, look around, and come back, a PR exercise to keep them happy, Virgil not expecting them to find anything. No science team would be present (though one of the Contact Society members was a scientist). If something was actually discovered, the Academy would dispatch a science team, but otherwise could not weather the political charges of squandering money to pursue what many would regard as a wild-eyed project. Hutch, against her better judgment, agreed, in part because a love interest was going to pilot his ship and several other Contact Society members to the destination source for the signal (after that was ascertained) while she took _Memphis_ to 1107.
Against all expectations, they discover not only more signals but also the source of those signals; stealth satellites, a trio of them, not only in orbit around the neutron star but also around the world that was the destination for the signals, a planet that once held intelligent life (a terrestrial world that apparently had gone through a global nuclear war). The remainder of the novel follows the _Memphis_ as her crew discovers that this is just the tip of the iceberg, that a series of such satellites are found in a number of systems, a network put up by some unknown extraterrestrial intelligence to observe interesting astronomical phenomena and intelligence species in several systems. While most of the satellites are quite old, a few are found to be quite recently constructed; who put up the satellites, who is maintaining them, and where does the network end? The mission is not an easy one, as several of the Contact Society members die along the way, investing blood and lives in their increasingly significant quest.
I found the mystery intriguing, though Hutch and the others never in the end get all the answers (which I also liked). The ending was fantastic, a gripping, thinking-outside-the-box hard science fiction answer to a problem, a daring rescue mission. I will definitely track down more novels in this series.
Summary of Chindi
The universe has been explored--and humanity has all but given up on finding other intelligent life. Then an alien satellite orbiting a distant star sends out an unreadable signal. Is it the final programmed gasp of an ancient, long-dead race? Or the first greeting of an undiscovered life form?Most science fiction seeks to excite and gratify the reader's sense of wonder. Jack McDevitt's hard SF novel Chindi both satisfies and examines this sense of wonder, which inspires not only SF readers and writers, but every explorer and scientist who seeks to understand the universe.
In Chindi, humanity has expanded to the stars and found very few other intelligent races--all but one extinct, with the survivor none too impressive. Humanity has resigned itself to being alone. Then an alien satellite is found, orbitting a distant star and beaming an unreadable signal across the galaxy. Academy starship Captain Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchins finds herself piloting a motley crew of eccentrics (one an ex-lover) from the idealistic, ridiculed Contact Society, seeking the signal's destination. Their quest turns deadly as it takes them far beyond the borders of explored space to an impossible planetary system--and a vast and terrifying alien artifact.
Chindi is an ambitious, exciting, big-idea hard-SF novel that ventures successfully into Rendezvous with Rama territory, and beyond. The sequel to The Engines of God and Deepsix, Chindi leaves some unanswered questions for McDevitt's forthcoming fourth novel. --Cynthia Ward
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