kurt_h's Full Review: Arthur C. Clarke and Michael P. Kube-McDowell - Th...
"The Trigger" is a science fiction novel by Arthur C. Clarke and Michael P. Kube-McDowell.
"The Trigger" is an unintended effect that is stumbled upon by a team of researchers in the near future. They started by trying to develop a gravity projecting device that a new theory from physics allows as a possibility. Instead they discover a device that causes explosives to combust instantly when they encounter the field. From this simple beginning moves the tale of how this device is brought into play on a national scale, its impact upon politics and the character interactions that it drives from beginning to end.
This novel stands in the grand tradition of near-term speculative fiction that projects a 'what if...?' scenario based on the known facts at the time the novel is written (somehow Ben Bova's "Kinsman" comes to mind), in this case 1999. "The Trigger" looks into the world of the 2010's and how the change of one basic assumption about chemical explosives and their uses can cause an inflection point in how humanity deals with itself. By injecting this device and its successor (a device that permanently stops explosives from combusting) into a relatively well known social setting, the authors can go about exploring the social ramifications as they play out over time.
To do this, the story jumps around from individual to individual, offering different viewpoints during the entire timeline of the story. Thus the story stands or falls on these characterizations. Arthur C. Clarke is a premier master of the character sketch, being able to give just enough background for a character to be believable and yet not so much as to bog down a story with too much detail. Michael P. Kube-McDowell is also a good character craftsman, who blends his capability for character development in detail well with Mr. Clarke's sketches. Although the storyline itself jumps from character to character, the development of most characters is enough to sustain the story.
Unfortunately, both authors feel compelled to offer a sub-plot of two minor characters getting romantically involved during the creation and deployment of the device(s) in the novel. While this offers some minor opportunity for storyline development (using the device to prevent a gang shooting of one of the character's sister's family), it thereafter falls into the background and almost totally disappears from view. I am, personally, not against romance in science fiction novels, but do feel that such romance should help in the development of not only the characters but the overall story itself. In this case a similar 'testing' of the device and for other reasons could have been developed for the more important of the two characters and allow for similar if not equal character development. A minor quibble, to be sure, but one that distracts from the overall flow of the novel.
Larger problems with the novel, however, are not so easily papered over. The use and development of the trigger device is very well looked at and thought out, but the analysis of its use on the military side of things is lacking. When one removes conventional weapons with explosives from the mix of possible equipment in the 2010's, multiple options currently on the drawingboard (and speculated about as early as the late 1980's) appear. One concept is that kinetic kill weapons (those that do not require explosives to achieve their end result) is amply demonstrated through the use of long-range use of automatic weapons and the use of sabot rounds from tanks. Also looked at is the long range use of tactical nuclear devices (with the knowledge that these devices require conventional explosives to achieve nuclear detonation). Three major areas are, however, overlooked for equipment in that era, at least one of which will be deployed by then. First is the extension of the kinetic kill concept to rail gun armed tanks. This has been actively looked at as a possibility since the 1970's, and only the necessary power density has been lacking for the development of such weapons. Second, and a bit more on the drawingboard side, are particle beam weapons able to use hard radiation for thermal target effects (again power density is a major problem here). Third, and MUCH closer to modern day deployment, is laser armed vehicles.
By the mid-1990's the first discussions for arming a large aircraft with a directional laser and adaptive optics for theater missile defense has been discussed. Currently this and three other aircraft designs (AC-130, F-22 and JSF) are all having laser based systems closely looked at, with the AC-130 starting the beginning of the prototype cycle. At least one of these types of systems and possibly two, will be available by the timeframe of the novel and would seriously challenge many of the decisions being made at the highest level of political power. By not having these options seriously examined, the prime motivation for military reform is brought into question, along with the overall use of the trigger itself.
Finally there is the science involved to make this novel possible. In truth if the 'how' the device actually achieved what it did was left out of the novel, it would be a much better novel. By having older scientists track down exactly how the trigger device achieves its ends, the novel runs against the conventional wisdom of the scientific field, which is that all great work is done before a scientist is 30. True, this is a 'rule of thumb', but is a pretty accurate indicator of how and when advances in scientific theory occur in an individual's life. Notable exceptions like Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking tend to prove the rule, however, as their peers are rarely as productive for as long as they were. To have three such scientists (one in his late 60's at least, one in his late 50's and another in his mid 30's) in a novel who all are working together is a bit of a strain of the realm of the possible... unless great advances in biomedicine and nanotechnology are available by this point in time. But as they are NOT available for the prolongation, expansion or rejuvenation of mental faculties, the novel stretches the suspension of disbelief beyond that which is credible.
What the authors have tried to do in this novel is to show how a technology that starts as something that should be a boon for mankind, can lead to even deadlier results in the long run. While a nice meta-state for the overall novel, it detracts from the general flow of events by having to compress and force the storyline, characterizations and events into a very short space of the novel format. This novel does get one thinking about the question that dogs our firearms based society about how to control the use of such weapons while retaining a right to them. What is never examined is the look that in the US the right to keep and bear arms covers ALL arms, and that in a future where firearms are rendered inert, much older styles of arms come into play. What does happen to the criminal element when the unskilled use of firearms is no longer available? Does the making and use of swords return to daily life in cities protected by such devices? And how does that change the outlook on responsibility for personal protection? This paradigm shift is addressed tangentially within the novel, but would become the MAIN driving force in a short period of time throughout society. This examination is sacrificed to the end meta-state of the novel and deprives the reader of the author's insights into how civilization would change adapt to the new conditions imposed by the technology involved.
So that leaves me, as a reviewer, with mixed emotions about this novel. It presents a fascinating and immensely stimulating thought experiment to be performed upon society. But by not being able to keep current with the technological state of the world that this thought experiment is being projected to, it loses much of its force. By concentrating on getting to a 'big circle' end-state and NOT looking at the changes in societies it actually misses the big picture. And by giving us adequate but not compelling character sketches, much of the final impact of the end state of the novel are made ephemeral.
Stimulating idea? Yes!!
Well executed and examined? Unfortunately not...
For interesting reading about how you can still get the future wrong and make it compelling reading, check out Arthur C. Clarke's "2001: A Space Odyssey". Also coming to mind is Spider and Jeanne Robinson's "Stardance", in which the characterizations are very compelling even if the future it is in is a bit difficult to believe in.
'Near future SF is a hard genre to write in as the present so quickly makes it obsolete...' paraphrasing Jerry Pournelle on this one.
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