Across the Sea of Suns
Gregory Benford
Kindle $6.64

Some months back I reviewed In the Ocean of Night, the first volume in Gregory Benford’s Galactic Center series.  Across the Sea of Suns takes place a number of years later, and it’s just as good as the first volume in the series.

The Lancer is a deep space ram ship that scouting nearby stars for possible Earth-like planets.  The target is a nearby star with only a catalog number that has since been christened Ra.  Signals have been detected coming from that star.

Aboard is Nigel Walmsley, the protagonist from Ocean.  He’s a bit older, but more cantankerous than ever.  He doesn’t get along with Ted Landon, the bureaucrat in charge.  After the events in Ocean, Nigel doesn’t exactly think like everyone else.  This causes friction between him and Ted because Ted is very  much a bureaucrat.  It doesn’t help that Nigel is usually right.  Too bad Ted doesn’t listen very well.

Ra has an Earthlike planet orbiting it, which the crew of the Lancer name Isis.  It’s not a hospitable world by human standards, but it does contain life.  Among which are a species which not only communicate by radio waves, but see only at radio wavelengths.

But the real discovery, the one that has long term consequences for humanity, are the two asteroids orbiting Isis.  These asteroids are Watchers.  They are complicated machines programmed to look for signs of intelligent life.  And eliminate it.

Unfortunately, the crew of the Lancer doesn’t know this.  At least not until it’s too late.

Back on Earth, a sailor named Warren is having an alien encounter of his own.  After the Lancer left the solar system, other space ships arrived.  These contained aquatic creatures that are now wrecking shipping.  We meet Warren when his ship is sunk by one of them.  He ends up on a raft, and then the aquatic aliens begin to try to communicate.

There are times when the book seems slow, but that’s simply Benford giving depth to his story.  He raises some interesting questions.  Benford’s universe is one inhabited by machine intelligences, intelligences that are hostile to mankind and all other forms of life.  But something protected Earth from them in the past.  We saw the remnants of that battle in In the Ocean of Night.  Who were they?  Why didn’t they protect the life around nearby stars?  Or did they, and fail?  Where are they now?

There are four more volumes in the Galactic Center series.  I’m looking forward to reading them all.