The Dosadi Experiment

Last updated
The Dosadi Experiment
The Dosadi Experiment, first edition.jpg
Cover of the first edition
Author Frank Herbert
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
SeriesConSentient
Genre Science fiction
Publisher G. P. Putnam's Sons
Publication date
1977
Media typePrint (Hardcover & Paperback)
ISBN 0-399-12022-X
OCLC 2837037
813/.5/4
LC Class PZ4.H5356 Do PS3558.E63
Preceded by Whipping Star  
Followed by Eye  

The Dosadi Experiment is a 1977 science fiction novel by American writer Frank Herbert. It is the second full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his short stories "A Matter of Traces" and "The Tactful Saboteur", and continued in his novel Whipping Star . It was first published as a four-part serial in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine from May to August, 1977.

Contents

Plot summary

The novel is set in a distant future when humans are part of an interstellar civilization called the ConSentiency composed of many species. One, the Taprisiots, provide instant mind-to-mind communication between two sentient minds anywhere in the universe, and the Caleban provide "jump-doors" (which allow instantaneous travel between any two points in the universe). This is the glue that holds the far-flung ConSentiency together. Unfortunately, one consequence of jump-door technology is the possibility that large numbers of unsuspecting sentients can be diverted to destinations unknown for nefarious purposes. A government saboteur attempts to expose one such plot.

Jorj X. McKie is a Saboteur Extraordinary, one of the principals of the Bureau of Sabotage, and the only human admitted to practice law before the Gowachin bar as a legum (lawyer). While meditating in a park in the Bureau's headquarters, McKie is mentally contacted by the Caleban Fannie Mae, a female member of a multidimensional species of unparalleled power whose visible manifestation in this universe is the star Thyone in the Pleiades cluster.

Generations ago, a secret, unauthorized experiment by the Gowachins was carried out with the help of a contract with the Calebans. They isolated the planet Dosadi behind an impenetrable barrier called "The God Wall". On the planet were placed humans and Gowachin, with an odd mix of modern and old technology. The planet itself is massively poisonous except for a narrow valley, containing the city "Chu", into which nearly 89 million humans and Gowachin are crowded under terrible conditions. It is ruled by a dictator, many other forms of government having been tried previously, but without the ability to remove such things as the DemoPol, a computer system used to manipulate populaces without their consent or knowledge. The culture of ordinary day-to-day power in Dosadi is very violent. Among other tools, addictive psychotropes are used for handling power among hierarchies in organisations.

Senior Liator (or Liaitor) Keila Jedrik starts a war that will change Dosadi forever. Jorj travels to Dosadi and escapes with Keila after engaging in ego sharing. This gives them the ability to swap bodies and thus by using a hole in the contract sealing Dosadi they can escape via jump gate. Once free, by legal manoeuvring the Dosadi population is unleashed upon the ConSentiency for good or ill, while the people who set the project in motion try to deal with the consequences, having sent McKie there hoping a solution more in their interest could be found.

Main characters

Jorj X. McKie

Jorj X. McKie is the leading saboteur extraordinary in the Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab), an organization found in The Dosadi Experiment as well as two earlier short stories. He is described as a squat and ugly man of Pacific Islander ancestry, with green eyes and a shock of red hair. The Gowachin say they feel their bones age in his presence, because when he smiles, he bears a remarkable resemblance to their "Frog god", the nearly-divine Lawgiver, Mrreg.

A born troublemaker, Jorj McKie finds BuSab to be a natural outlet for his tendencies. But McKie's success as a BuSab agent is really the result of a formidable intelligence and an exquisite sensitivity to the traditions of other races combined with the ability to adapt to any circumstances. Sent by the agency to Dosadi as their "best", he was like an infant in swaddling clothes in comparison to a people honed by fifteen generations of violence. However, in less than a single week Keila Jedrik appraised him as "more Dosadi than Dosadi."

Despite his feelings of genuine love for the Caleban Fannie Mae (a love which is fully returned), McKie finds it difficult to form long-term attachments to human women; he had been married no fewer than fifty occasions by the time of the Dosadi affair. Nevertheless, he finds in Keila Jedrik a companion who becomes far more than a soul mate.

Keila Jedrik

Keila Jedrik is a human native of Dosadi with short, bristly black hair and icy blue eyes. She introduced a subtle flaw in the computer system governing food distribution, which eliminated her own position as "Senior Liaitor" (or Liator) along with the jobs of 49 other human beings. This small, dislodged pebble became an avalanche that led to a full-scale race-war against the Gowachins who lived side-by-side with humans in the planet's one inhabitable city, a crisis she had long prepared for. Jedrik is the culmination of an eight-generation plan to break free of the God Wall enclosing Dosadi.

When the Bureau of Sabotage got wind of the existence of Dosadi and sent saboteur extraordinary Jorj X. McKie to investigate, Jedrik snatched McKie before he could fall into the hands of Dosadi's nominal ruler Broey. The novel chronicles the way they became utterly joined in body, mind, and purpose.

Broey

Elector Broey is the ruler of the planet Dosadi, the Gowachin Broey is slow to recognize the race riots between human and Gowachin in the warrens of Chu as the beginning of a world war orchestrated by a mid-level functionary in his organization named Keila Jedrik.

After only a few days, Elector Broey is forced to cut his human allies loose and devote all of his resources defending a narrow corridor through Chu to the Rim. Acknowledging the superior abilities of Jedrik, he nevertheless dispatches suicide bombers to make her inevitable victory as costly as possible. But he is shocked into personally surrendering to Jedrik after the God Wall Caleban makes the sky of Dosadi black in preparation for the destruction of the planet.

Temporarily allied with Jedrik, Broey seizes the reins of power throughout the ConSentiency universe after the God Wall contract is cancelled. He is the only judge to survive the courtarena when the Dosadi affair comes to trial. In the end, however, he only succeeds in providing a single target for the "ministrations" of the Bureau of Sabotage under its new leader, Jorj X. McKie.

Reception

C. Ben Ostrander reviewed The Dosadi Experiment in The Space Gamer No. 13. [1] Ostrander commented that "The wheels-within-wheels plotting is one of the most enjoyable reading experiences any SF fan can have. I recommend this book highly." [1]

Awards

The Dosadi Experiment was nominated for a Locus Award for best science fiction novel in 1978 but lost to Frederik Pohl's novel Gateway . [2]

Related Research Articles

<i>Nemesis</i> (Asimov novel) 1989 science-fiction novel written by Isaac Asimov

Nemesis is a science fiction novel by American writer Isaac Asimov. One of his later science fiction novels, it was published in 1989, three years before his death. The novel is loosely related to the future history of his Robot Series, Empire Series, and Foundation Series, into which Asimov attempted to integrate his science fiction output. This novel is connected to Asimov's other works by several ideas from earlier and later novels, including non-human intelligence, sentient astronomical bodies ("Hallucination"), and rotor engines.

<i>Whipping Star</i> 1970 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert

Whipping Star is a 1970 science fiction novel by American writer Frank Herbert. It is the first full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his short stories “A Matter of Traces” and “The Tactful Saboteur”.

<i>Xenocide</i> 1991 novel by Orson Scott Card

Xenocide (1991) is a science fiction novel by American writer Orson Scott Card, the third book in the Ender's Game series. It was nominated for both the Hugo and Locus Awards for Best Novel in 1992. The title is a combination of 'xeno-', meaning alien, and '-cide', referring to the act of killing, together meaning the act of killing populations of aliens; comparable to genocide.

<i>Star Maker</i> 1937 Olaf Stapledon novel

Star Maker is a science fiction novel by British writer Olaf Stapledon, published in 1937. The book describes a history of life in the universe, dwarfing in scale Stapledon's previous book, Last and First Men (1930), a history of the human species over two billion years. Star Maker tackles philosophical themes such as the essence of life, of birth, decay and death, and the relationship between creation and creator. A pervading theme is that of progressive unity within and between different civilizations.

<i>Forever Free</i> (novel) 1999 science fiction novel by Joe Haldeman

Forever Free is a science fiction novel by American author Joe Haldeman, the sequel to The Forever War. It was published in 1999.

<i>The Godmakers</i> (novel) 1972 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert

The Godmakers (1972) is a science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. The title of early editions was sometimes styled The God Makers.

The Noon Universe is a fictional future setting for a number of hard science fiction novels written by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky. The universe is named after Noon: 22nd Century, chronologically the first novel from the series.

<i>Dune: The Battle of Corrin</i> 2004 novel by Kevin J. Anderson and Brian Herbert

Dune: The Battle of Corrin is a 2004 science fiction novel by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson, set in the fictional Dune universe created by Frank Herbert. It is the third book in the Legends of Dune prequel trilogy, which takes place over 10,000 years before the events of Frank Herbert's celebrated 1965 novel Dune. The series chronicles the fictional Butlerian Jihad, a crusade by the last free humans in the universe against the thinking machines, a violent and dominating force led by the sentient computer Omnius.

First contact (science fiction) Science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life

First contact is a common science fiction theme about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life, or of any sentient species' first encounter with another one, given they are from different planets or natural satellites. The theme allows writers to explore such topics such as xenophobia, transcendentalism, and basic linguistics by adapting the anthropological topic of first contact to extraterrestrial cultures.

<i>Crystal Singer</i> 1982 novel by Anne McCaffrey

The Crystal Singer, or Crystal Singer in the U.S., is a young adult, science fiction novel by Anne McCaffrey, first published by Severn House in 1982. It features the transition by Killashandra Ree, a young woman who has failed as an operatic soloist, to the occupation of "crystal singer" on the fictional planet Ballybran. The novel is based on short stories written in 1974 and is the first book McCaffrey set in her "Crystal universe".

The Tactful Saboteur Short story by Frank Herbert

"The Tactful Saboteur" is a science fiction novelette by American writer Frank Herbert, which first appeared in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine in October 1964. It is the second story in Herbert's ConSentiency universe, one of his three elaborate universes or franchises spanning multiple volumes.

The Alliance–Union universe is a fictional universe created by American writer C. J. Cherryh. It is the setting for a future history series extending from the 21st century into the far future.

<i>Eye</i> (short story collection)

Eye (1985) is a collection of 13 science fiction short stories by American writer Frank Herbert. All of the works had been previously published in magazine or book form, except for "The Road to Dune".

A Matter of Traces Short story by Frank Herbert

"A Matter of Traces" is a science fiction short story by American writer Frank Herbert, first appeared in Fantastic Universe magazine in November 1958 and later in Herbert's 1985 short story collection Eye. It is the first story in Herbert's ConSentiency universe, one of his three elaborate fictional universes spanning multiple volumes.

The Handicapped

"The Handicapped" is a science fiction short story by Larry Niven, originally published in the December 1967 issue of Galaxy Science Fiction as "Handicap". Set in the Known Space universe, the story introduces the Grogs, the sessile but sentient inhabitants of the planet Down.

<i>Quofum</i> 2008 novel by Alan Dean Foster

Quofum (2008) is a science fiction novel by American writer Alan Dean Foster.

This is a list of works by the science fiction author Frank Herbert.

<i>The Long Result</i> 1965 novel by John Brunner

The Long Result is a 1965 science fiction novel, by British writer John Brunner.

References

  1. 1 2 Ostrander, C. Ben (September–October 1977). "Books". The Space Gamer . Metagaming (13): 32–33.
  2. "Locus Awards 1978". science fiction awards database. Retrieved 3 April 2022.