If there were a science-fiction university, Robert L. Forward would be the dean of the Xenobiology Department. As he deals with alien beings in a heavy gravity environment for Dragon’s Egg, he now deals in Saturn Rukh with creatures that float through gaseous clouds in the same way that whales and manta rays swim through the oceans. Frankly, I’m often too lazy to read hard science-fiction. My earliest science-fiction memories are the fantasies of Ray Bradbury and the pulp writings of Edgar Rice Burroughs. I’m much more inclined toward space opera than hard science-fiction. Outside of the work of Ben Bova (and possibly the real scientific/mathematical insights found in Rudy Rucker’s and Neal Stephenson’s work), I’m not sure I’ve read much science-fiction with solid scientific foundations in the last decade. In spite of my usual preferences, though, this meaty novel was everything I usually want in a novel and more. The premise is ideal. Earth can convert a super fuel by running the methane in Saturn’s atmosphere through an atomic reactor. In truth, Earth could do that on our own planet, but the problem becomes how to dispose of the atomic waste. In this case, believing Saturn to have no intelligent life forms, it became logical to create the meta fuel on Saturn and dump the waste in the “wastelands” of that planet. The mission is risky to begin with (using a fascinating idea about how to use the mass of moons and asteroids to save fuel), but the reward matches the risk. Naturally, however, it wouldn’t be much of a novel if everything went according to plan.The first kink in the plan is the discovery that there is more than “saganlife” on the planet. The second kink in the plan develops from the interaction between these creatures and the crew of the space mission. The creatures, or more properly, alien beings are fascinating. Forward’s hypothesis about how intelligent life that, in order to survive, must remain continually on the move is fascinating. The implications, which I cannot reveal without providing an unwelcome spoiler, are logical and somewhat disturbing. Nevertheless, we get to see these alien beings with regard to survival, society, breeding, and more. It is so refreshing to see massive creatures (the rukhs are named after the giant birds in Arabian folklore, mispronounced as “rocs” in our English translations) as more than foils for the laser rifles and plasma cannons of space opera. Both danger and opportunity are present in the existence of these massive beings.Even without the obligatory firefights of most escapist stories set in space, there is plenty of danger. Even without being overtly hostile to the crew, the planet has significant dangers. There is death and there is serious injury in this adventure. Neither death nor injury is handled as “business as usual.” Rather, the author uses them as an opportunity to reflect on very real experiences of grief and loss. Sometimes, I have argued that I dislike “realistic” science-fiction because the authors get so caught up in the science or hypothetical science that they lose track of the human element. In this case, Forward captures issues of marital problems and fidelity, promiscuousness versus commitment, grief and loss, ambition and avarice, and responsibility versus irresponsibility. I felt like I really cared about all of these crew members as individuals: the ambitious pilot, the promiscuous pastor’s daughter, the romance-novel reading tree-hugger, the alcoholic engineer, the dutiful engineer, and the relationship-challenged doctor. Listing them in such a way seems to trivialize their individual struggles, but the delightful part of the book for me is that they all have very real challenges.The story resolves itself in ways that make sense from a historical perspective as well. There are moments in the book where events unfold very much like discovery of the “New World” must have occurred in the 15th century. Plus, as you’d expect in solid scientific speculation, the solutions that don’t work are often as interesting as those that do work. This excellent book will make me think twice about grabbing the next space opera over one of Forward’s books.
