Author:	Arthur C. Clarke and Gentry Lee
Copyright:	1988
Date Reviewed:	7/1/92
Rating:	5.0

"Cradle" is a forgettable little book, not too bad but of no lasting value. When a U.S. Navy missile inexplicably goes off course, reporter Carol Dawson hires a charter boat to go look for it. The boat is owned by Nick Williams, an angry Harvard dropout who is still bitter about being dumped by a wealthy married woman when he was in college. Nick's employee is Troy Jefferson, a Black engineer who spent two years on the road trying to find himself.

While on a dive to find the missile, Nick and Carol find a golden trident. Later, Carol and Troy enter a spaceship. The spaceship's robot inhabitants ask for information, lead and gold to repair their ship. The trio steals the gold from Nick's former partners who stole the greater portion of the Santa Maria find years ago. After a race with the strange foes, they are temporarily captured by the U.S. Navy represented by Lt. Todd, an over-ambitious young bigot, Lt. Ramirez, a nondescript token Latino, and Commander Vernon Winters, and insecure religious veteran of the strike on Qadafe's home.

We eventually find that the trident carries genetically improved zygotes of plants, animals and humans taken from the Earth 100,000 years ago. Interspersed in the main story are small sections about a long lived species which captures specimens for its zoos and is now repatriating them. The trio complete their mission and in return they ask the robots to take the trident with them so Earth will not be burdened by these superhumans.

There is little plot in the novel and most of it appears three quarters of the way through. After 250 pages the authors are still character building, complete with histories and moral dilemmas that add nothing to the story. By now the novel has lost all interest. The final few sequences about the alien spaceship were interesting if contrived (especially the superhuman video on demand). I enjoyed the descriptions of the aliens and their tools and would have liked to learn more about their culture and society. The need for gold to repair their spaceship was just too convenient for the story line. This must be symptom of multiple authors trying to tie together a story at the end. The Vernon Winters character was especially annoying. I could not empathize with a Navy commander so insecure that he can't handle a relationship with a teenager without worrying about what his God will think of it. Much time was spent on this minor character who contributes little to the story line.