Breaking Strain (Preuss novel)
| Author | Paul Preuss |
|---|---|
| Illustrator | |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Published | 1987 |
| Publisher | Hearst[1] |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| Pages | 281[2] |
| ISBN | 0380753448 Search this book on  . |
| Followed by | Maelstrom |
Breaking Strain is a science fiction novel by Paul Preuss published in 1987, based on Breaking Strain; Arthur C. Clarke's short story published in 1949. Breaking Strain is the first in his Arthur C. Clarke’s Venus Prime series of six novels. [3][4][5]
Plot
Late 21st century, Colorado. Sparta, a young woman, wakes up lacking memories while in captivity. She has flashbacks of being an agent for the SPARTA program. That night, Doctor McPhee injects cellular implants into her brain to reverse the memory loss. Sparta wakes up and flees the hospital. She hacks a train kiosk and gets a ticket to New York. In Manhattan, Sparta is on a mission to find her parents. She infiltrates The Board of Space Control which has enormous data banks for her to peruse.[6]
Meanwhile, Nikos Pavlakis waits for his ship Star Queen to be rebuilt. He hires Peter Grant and Angus McNeil to captain his ship. Their mission is to deliver mining robots and a rare book to Port Hesperus on Venus. On their way, a meteor damages the ship’s ability to produce oxygen. Calculations based on the remaining supply prove there is not enough for both to survive the trip. Not lost on the two-man crew is the fact that there would be plenty for one person to survive. The two turn against each other and Grant decides to poison McNeil. Until the ship arrives on dock at Port Hesperus, all that is known is that someone in a spacesuit has jettisoned a body into space prior to arrival. Just who was who, remains to be seen and discovered.[7]
Meanwhile, Sparta has been promoted to Space Board Inspector and sent to Port Hesperus to investigate the possible murder aboard the Star Queen. As the vessel under investigation docks into port in Venus' orbit, we see McNeil leave the ship, alone. McNeil, who didn't drink the poison, instead convinced Grant to play a game of chance to determine who amongst themselves would honourably kill themself. Sparta investigates the ship and finds the damage was not caused by a meteor, as presumed, but rather sabotage. One of the mining robots on the ship goes haywire and attempts to kill Sparta. She overrides the robot with her superhuman powers. After she saves the day, she meets with an old friend from the SPARTA program, Blake Redfield. He tells her that she was sent to the hospital after an unsuccessful augmentation. We learn that both of Sparta’s parents, who died years ago, were part of a cult, run by William Laird, which intended to create super humans. While in Port Hesperus, Sparta then travels to Ishtar Mining HQ to confront Sondra Sylvester, the woman she believes sabotaged both Star Queen and the mining robot. Sylvester pulls a gun, kills Vincent Darlington, the man who commissioned the book’s journey to Venus, and knocks Sparta unconscious before running out of ammunition and being captured. Following her assignment, Sparta attempts to head home; however, prior to her return departure, her boss orders her to stay to complete a further assignment.[8]
Characters
Main characters
- Sparta – A young woman with a mysterious past and various superhuman abilities, including eidetic memory and enhanced senses. Formerly enrolled in the mysterious SPARTA program under her birth name, Linda Nagy, she now works for the Space Board under the name Ellen Troy, hoping to gain enough security clearance to eventually learn why a large chunk of her memory has been erased.
- Blake Redfield – A brilliant, young expert dealer in old and rare books, and one of Sparta's fellows from the program. Also Sparta's main ally and romantic interest.
- The Commander – Sparta's boss at the Space Board. Described as having an unusually dark face and hands, the result of spending too much time in deep space with inadequate protection against UV radiation.
- William Laird – A prophet of the Free Spirit, charged with running its eugenics programs. To this end, he assumed control over the SPARTA program and was directly responsible for Linda Nagy's augmentations.
Other characters
- Inspector Viktor Proboda – A Space Board inspector assigned to Port Hesperus, and Ellen Troy's partner in the investigation of the Space Queen sabotage.
- Sondra Sylvester – An executive at the Port Hesperus branch of Isthar Mining Company. Constantly at war with former boyfriend, Vincent Darlington. Her obsession with stealing a highly valuable book from Darlington initially makes her a suspect in the sabotage of the Space Queen.
- Vincent Darlington – Former lover of both Sondra Sylvester and Nancybeth Mokoroa, he is the owner of the museum of Port Hesperus. Seeks revenge against the two women by outbidding Sylvester for a highly valuable book. Killed by Sylvester at the end of Book 1.
- Peter Grant – The co-captain of the Star Queen, an old starship. When the ship is sabotaged during an expedition, leading to its oxygen supply becoming too low to last the entire trip, the normally-disciplined Grant becomes convinced that the only way to survive is to kill his co-captain, McNeil, and thus slow down the rate of oxygen depletion. His attempt fails; however, and instead, McNeil surprisingly convinces him to kill himself.
- Angus McNeil – The co-captain of the Star Queen. Unlike his colleague, Grant, McNeil is a hedonist, and when the ship begins to lose oxygen, he resolves to make the best of a bad situation, which causes Grant to eventually try and kill him. When the attempt fails, McNeil convinces Grant to play a game of cards to determine which of them will commit suicide so that the other might live long enough to reach their destination. McNeil ends up winning.
References
- ↑ https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/149047.Breaking_Strain
- ↑ http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?15599
- ↑ https://www.globenewswire.com/en/news-release/2021/04/20/2213351/0/en/Publisher-iBooks-Set-to-Release-New-Edition-of-Sci-Fi-Series-Arthur-C-Clarke-s-Venus-Prime.html
- ↑ https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/lat-am-claxson-expands-english-143000481.html
- ↑ https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/07/13/2262127/0/en/2021-Edition-of-Arthur-C-Clarke-s-Venus-Prime-Sci-Fi-Novels-to-Include-New-Cover-Art.html
- ↑ Chow, Dan (1988). "Locus #324". Locus. Locus Publications.
- ↑ Sawyer, Andy (1988). "Paperback Inferno #71". Paperback Inferno. BSFA.
- ↑ Amies, Chris (2000). "Vector 212". Vector. BSFA.
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