| Author: | Harry Harrison and Gordon R. Dickson |
| Copyright: | 1977 |
| Date Reviewed: | 6/29/86 |
| Rating: | 7.0 |
Synopsis: An sabotage explosion destroys an Albenareth galactic liner killing most of its 200 passengers and crew. The crew are members of the spacefaring Albenareth race, whose religion is based on space travel. They achieve their form of Nirvana by serving in space. Of course the greatest service is achieved by death in space after a long and glorious space career. With one exception, the passengers are all arbites - the worker class of human society. The one exception is Giles Steel Ashad. Giles is an Adelman from a good family. Through the course of the book we learn that there are basically three classes in Earth society. At the very top is the Adelborn. They are the ruling class and most of them think of arbites more as slaves than workers. Most of the population of course is made up of the arbites. They perform all the work that runs the society. At the very bottom of the class structure are the genetically engineered arbites. These men were bred for muscle and low intelligence. They live out most of their lives brawling with their beer buddies in the work barracks.
It is clear that Giles is in charge. He tells the arbites what to do and how to do it and intercedes in arguments among the arbites. The Albenareth Captain and Engineer also survived the destruction but when a problem is found on the exterior of the lifeboat, the Engineer sacrifices his life. The destination of the galactic ship was Belben and the Captain insists on remaining on a course to Belben even though 20B-40 is half the ETA. Giles finally talks the Captain into directing the ship to 20B-40 by promising to tell her who destroyed the ship. It was he.
Giles is a member of the Oca Front that is trying to bring about a new revolution to do away with the strict class structure. The founder of the organization, Paul Oca, wants to begin the reform now but the greater part of the Front believe society won't be ready for another 50 years (they probably really don't want it to happen in their lifetime). Giles's mission is to find and kill Paul, his former best friend, who is in hiding on 20B-40. His plan was to damage the ship just enough to force it to the closer destination. However, the Albenareth ship was old - as all are and the bomb he planted did more damage than anticipated. So he believes.
In between the two course changes to point the ship to 20B-40, Esteven, an arbite addicted to Tonk, rips a page out of the sacred Albenareth star table book. Tonk can only be taken with paper. When the Captain realizes that the book has been desecrated, she goes into a catatonic state. Giles and Groce, a compute, make the course change. The passengers are saved just before they die from thirst after the ib plant dies.
On 20B-40, Giles goes to the residence of a man who will be able to find Paul. Instead he meets Paul and the rest of the arbites from the lifeboat. It seems they are all somehow tied up in a plot to remold society. Mara is a member of the Black Thursday underground - a violent organization dedicated to overthrowing the current government. However she's a pussycat compared to the Association that Bisset the policewoman and the rest of her team belong to. Bisset knew all about Giles' mission and was sent on her own mission to watch over him. She planted the second bomb which destroyed the liner. She also sabotaged all the lifeboats except the one they all escaped in. The Association's plan is to in six months kill all Adelborns and the genetically suppressed arbites. She must prevent Giles from killing Oca because it could result in an investigation that would expose the Association. Finally, with the help of the Captain and Mara, Giles defeats Bisset and the Association.
Review: As with several other novels I reviewed, "Lifeboat" made for good reading page by page but when you put it all together the whole was very much less than the sum of the parts. It's a science fiction in search of a plot. "Lifeboat" was co-authored and it shows. Its really two plots that don't mesh very well. Five years ago I read a Science Fiction by the same name authored by James White which really did have a plot. That one was about a doctor who must care for injured people aboard a lifeboat. This one was more like an Agatha Cristie novel where all of the characters show up at the end unannounced and confess that they all did it. If everyone was involved with a revolution from the beginning, the whole point of the tragedy now seems moot.
Too many incidents in the novel were not believable. Why was Giles needed to man the waldo? His only purpose from the beginning seemed to pull the Engineer in from outside so the Captain could mate with him. How could the Captain know that the Engineer would be incapacitated just after finishing his work. That was just too convenient a way of showing off the waldo and getting rid of the Engineer at the same time. If the Engineer really were to die outside the ship, he probably wouldn't get the chance to finish the job. Also, the way the paper was ripped out of the navigation book seemed much too contrived.