Frank Herbert #3, Destination Void (and Dune Series)

Destination Void 1966, cover by Richard Powers

Disclaimer I am having trouble will blogger displaying text odd text breakss, editing does not seem to help.

"Another student had said, "Hypothetical questions like this always bore the hell out of me." (157)(1978) Destination Void. They bore me as well, which is why I did have some trouble finishing Destination Void. Talk talk, talk, I had the same problem with Disch's Camp Concentration and as with the Disch book the ending redeemed an otherwise, for me, tedious read. I will now briefly discuss the Dune series and my Herbert Reread, skip ahead if you want to move onto Destination Void.

THIS BRIEF SURVEY OF THE DUNE BOOKS CONTAINS SPOILERS

Before discussing Destination Void I first I want to mention how my amble through the works of Frank Herbert is going. I love Dune I will make no bones about it, But I never previously gotten past the beginning of God Emperor of Dune. So I decided to read all six Dune related books published by Herbert in his life time. I skipped Dune which I have read many time, skipped Dune Messiah which I had read previously, I am clear on the concept, we all have regrets, then reread Children of Dune. I hit God Emperor of Dune with a full head of steam, 3,500 years have passed, only Leto and a clone (ghola) of Duncan Idaho, (one of many it turns out) remain from the other books, even the sandworms except Leto are gone. Lots of talk, new characters, some character development?? got to the end lots of people die, kind of inconclusive for me because I know there are other books. Heretics of Dune 1,500 years pass everyone except another of the Duncan Idaho clones have died. The institutions/organizations remain, the Bene Gesserit, Ixians, Bene Tleilax and some of the ruling houses, Sandworms have returned to Arrakis. Things seem to be picking up plot wise, human populations who scattered to distant parts of the universe when Leto's empire collapsed have returned. This including a very powerful group lead by women called the Honored Matres bent on conquering known space and destroying the Bene Gesseritt. Herbert starts to build up some interesting ideas, explains some of the cultures, that were only names in the original books groups like the Bene Tleilax are fleshed out a bit more. There is more action, but still lots of talk. Chapterhouse Dune is a direct sequel so we have the same characters although Herbert kills them off at the drop of a hat which makes me feel some of the time spent on character development and philosophical digressions between them seems like unnecessary padding. By the end of Chapterhouse I don't care enough about the characters to be terribly engaged, (I get the impression Herbert doesn't either at the rate they start dropping) it becomes obvious that there will not be a resolution.

I am not sure how Herbert planned to end the books. Chapterhouse Dune was published in 1985 and Frank Herbert sadly passed away in 1986. I do not plan to read any of the subsequent Dune franchise books. I know that may SF writers begin series that are never completed for various reason's but even in the books he finished Herbert seems to be rambling, the interesting bits were abandoned for more discussion. I tired of the digressions, capsule histories, epigrams, philosophical discussions worthy of drunken undergrads, and Byzantine plot after Byzantine plot. I think at some point the writer needs to engage the reader and just tell the story. In creating his books Frank Herbert often played with ideas, Dune was by his own admission based on a desire to stand the Van Vogt Superman concept on it head. Damien Broderick in The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (51) states “The deep irony of Dune’s popular triumph, and that of its many sequels, is Herbert’s own declared intention to undermine exactly that besotted identification with the van Vogtian superman-hero.” See my discussion of Hellstrom's Hive for another concept based plot. By the last of the Dune books I don't think Herbert's original idea or concept was strong enough to carry the six books and he did not introduce anything to take it's place.

Revised Edition, Cover by Paul Alexander 

NOW BACK TO DESTINATION VOID

"Would you trust an artificial intelligence to fly a combat jet?" …,

""Let us see proper scientific testing and evaluation of the idea before we embark on such a dangerous idea." says Sharkey." 

both quotes for "Computer plays wingman in US air force simulations". David Hambling, New Scientist, Dec. 3-9, 2016. (23)

Destination Void first appeared in Galaxy Magazine, August 1965. The original title was "Do I Wake or Dream". ISFDB noted that this tile was also attributed to the original publication of The Eyes of Heisenberg, I looked at copy of the text of the Galaxy version online and scanned the beginning and the end. It matched the text of the 1966 Berkley Medallion paperback edition of Destination Void. I read the revised edition published by Berkley Medallion in 1978. It seems to have more framing material than the earlier edition but I only glanced at the first and last few pages of the 1966 edition so there might be other changes. I suspect I may have enjoyed the 1966 edition more, it was shorter. One thing I did realize was missing in the 1966 edition but present in the 1978 edition was the trademark Herbert epigrams preceding some of the chapters. I liked them in Dune but I feel his use of them in so many novels slows the story. In Destination Void a quick comparison of the two versions makes me feel that some of the epigrams as well as a prologue Herbert added to the Revised edition destroy some of the suspense and sense of ongoing revelation to be found in the earlier version. Herbert does discuss the revisions at the end of the 1978 edition should anyone wish to compare texts. 

In Destination Void a colony ship called Earthling is headed for the Tau Ceti star system
it has been launched from the moon on a journey expected to last 200 years. It carries a cargo of 3006 doppelgängers (clones) some as adult bodies in suspended animation, some as embryos. They also have plants, animals and the tools needed to found a new colony. This is the seventh ship tasked with this goal, the first six have failed. The crew consists of six clones, who will maintain the ship under the direction of a "Organic Mental Core" or "OMC" a disembodied human brain that maintains ship function, keeps the cargo alive and pilots the ship. As the story starts only three of the crew are still alive, the others have died in malfunctions or were killed by the OMC. At the start of the journey the ship carried three OMCs one active and two spares. Each has manifested signs of mental illness and had to be removed. Control over all ship functions has now devolved to the three remaining crew, chaplain-psychiatrist, Raja Flattery, (Tim) Gerrill Lon Timberlake life-systems engineer, and Bickel the ships engineer, who took responsibility for destroying the OMCs. Although Tim should be de facto captain Bickel as the most dominate personality takes over command. His first actions are to tell Moonbase what happened and order the revival of a replacement crew member, Prudence Weygand M.D. who is also an expert in computer math, from suspended animation. Only Flatterly and Timberlake are present when Weygand is awaked and it becomes obvious to Timberlake from a cryptic exchanges between the other two that there is a existing plan to manipulate Bickel into certain actions. The message from Moonrise provides three solutions, one, return to base for repairs and a new OMC, a process further complicated in that all the clones have, since their creation been excluded from all physical contact with actual humans. Two, treat the ship as a closed system and proceed to Tau Ceti at a much slower speed, which will involve using some of the clones for ship resources i.e. cannibalism. Or three "to build the necessary consciousness into your robo-pilot using the ship computer as a basis." (32) (1966) The entire concept of human brains in computers reminded me of Raymond F. Jones novel, The Cybernetic Brains,

http://ajaggedorbit.blogspot.ca/search/label/cybernetics 

but without Jones' killer frogs. But why not create what we would now call an Artificial Intelligence on earth or the moon. It seems they did try and the project on an island in Puget Sound resulted in a number of deaths and the eventual disappearance of the island. 

Bickel opts for option three despite some resistance of the rest of the crew. And therein lies a tale.

However it is a tale slowed by bull sessions about the nature of consciousness, how do we know we are alive etc. The various misgivings, insecurities, and moral qualms of the crew figure large and of course things happen to the ship. Since the managers of the project did incorporate some design flaws into the ship as deliberate frustrations to spur the crew to greater efforts and unusual solutions there is some ambiguity, are these changes part of the original plan or do they indicate changes to the computer's functioning  

The main flaw for me is why all the elaborate and expensive subterfuge. This is the seventh ship, were they all launched with most of the crew ignorant of their actual goal. Herbert loves this plot within a plot but it seems a poor way to run a space program or AI experiment to me. They also discuss synergy for awhile, which for anyone that has had to sit through meetings discussing synergy so HR staff and the managers can avoid actual work, this term acts like one of Herbert's key words and can potentially drive the reader into a homicidal rage. 

Another look at an attempt at testing an AI in a non-earth environment is James P. Hogan's novel  The Two Faces of Tomorrow, 1979. 

This is a Herbert novel with a number of his signature tropes, clones and the ability to create successive multiples of the same person to capture know qualities can be found in several of his works, the Duncan Idahos of Dune, Max Allgood the security chief in the The Eyes of Heisenberg. Another theme is the manipulation of people by a combination of training/indoctrination and stress, in the Dune books the Bene Jessit and Leto do it to entire populations. Leto in The God Emperor of Dune does this not only to the Duncan Idaho ghola but also to his servant Moneo and Moneo's daughter Sionado. The more I read Herbert the more I become convinced that one of the reasons for the shields in Dune that limit the use of projectile weapons, is because Herbert loves the hand to hand duel with all it's feints within feints, poisons darts, trigger words implanted under hypnois, plots and traps. In a story like Destination Void the duelling now verbal continues, plot within plot, betrayal nestled within betrayal. Herbert's love for questions of perception and identity also continue, what is human, what is machine what is real, how do we know. The Optimen, Folk, and Cyborgs of The Eyes of Heisenberg, the insect-humans of Helestrom's Hive, the disfranchised clones of Destination Void all raise these questions, I think the original title "Do I Wake or Dream" was probably a better if less commercial choice. And of course via chaplain-psychiatrist, Raja Flattery religion also raises it's head in a project one would expect to be purely secular.

I included my discussion of the Dune novels in the preamble because I think a number of the flaws I that I found in those novels are also present in Destination Void, they were all talky, unnecessarily convoluted, and without clear resolutions. Having said this, the more I thought about the novel the more I saw it as an integral piece of Herbert oeuvre. It really made me think about the themes that Herbert so often returns to in different novels. Herbert wrote several sequels with the poet Bill Ransom and I will read them at some point. I think Destination Void is worthwhile read, but maybe try the 1966 edition, I believe I already mentioned it's shorter.

As I continue my journey along this jagged orbit, serendipity does play a role. While pondering this post I picked up one of the novels my wife purchased, Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty. It is a murder mystery involving six clones, the crew of a ship carrying colonists to the Tau Ceti star system in suspended animation. It was a good read. I appreciated Lafferty's introduction of (mindmaps) records of the cloned bodies previous lives so they ended up with the same personalities. A body alone does not contain the mind or personality of the individual, something cloning in SF sometimes seems to gloss over. And as one might expect there was more action in Six Wakes than in the Herbert. I was interested in whether Lafferty was inspired at all by Destination Void but in an interview at the back of the novel she attributes the idea to an iPad game called FTL. 

Wikipedia does have an interesting article on the reasons Tau Ceti is a favourite destination for SF writers and it does does mention Destination Void. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tau_Ceti_in_fiction

Cover Design Kirk Benshoff Cover Image Arcanal Images

Frank Herbert #2, The Eyes of Heisenberg

The Eyes of Heisenberg, Frank Herbert, A Berkley Medallion Book, 1976, cover artist Paul Lehr.

"They are the power that loves and cares for us" p13

When I decided to look at Herbert's work, I began to pick up editions with different cover art, I enjoy comparing how a book is presented to the buying public so here are different views of the The Eyes of Heisenberg, I think my favourite is David O'Connor's  treatment of the globe shaped control centre of the Optimen triumvirate.

In The Eyes of Heisenberg Herbert gives us the story of a static society threatened by change. At present, society is ruled by a sterile immortal class called Optimen, (both men and women) the rest of society are called The Folk who can be divided into Sterries, the majority of people whose status is maintained by an ever present prophylactic gas and a select few who are designated for breeding. They provide the genetic material from which all future generations including Optimen are created. Embryos are vat raised once they have been cut, altered by sub cellular engineers to ensure no mutants, monsters or unique individuals that deviate from the standard average are present. Three of the Optimen form a ruling triumvirate whose membership periodically changes, and the rest can monitor events remotely as desired. All societal change has been curtailed including things like sea farming or space exploration. References to death, infirmity even worn equipment are avoided when talking to Optimen and the term doctor is not used. Many of the Folk have imbued the Optimen with a quasi divine status similar to saints and wear medallions or other tokens to invoke their aid in acquiring the status of breeders.  However there is resistance in the form of secret organization called Parents Underground and there is also reference to a Optimen Cyborg war in the past. 

The current story begins when Dr Thei Svengaard i.e. a sub cellular engineer is preparing to "cut" or alter the embryo of Lizbeth and Harvey Durant. He is upset because problems with the embryo have required him to enlist the assistance of a specialist Vyaslav Potter and also because, as allowed under Public Law 10927, the Durants have asked to watch the cut something that almost never occurs. Once the Durants arrive it is obvious that they are not innocent breeders that can be dissuaded for exercising their rights. They have a highly developed ability to read Svengaard's body language and communicate with each other the same way, they also have had access to forbidden literature and information the Cyborgs provide to the Parents Underground. Svengaard does not realize this and has them taken to the viewing room while he prepares for the procedure. It is during this procedure that things begin to go wrong. "Svengaard swung the meson microscope over the Durant vat, adjusting for low amplification to minimize Heisenberg interference. One look could not hurt." p 13 But of course it does. " He stood frozen at the viewer as a thing seen only eight previous times in the history of gene-shaping took place within his field of vision. A  thin line like a distant contrail reached into the cellular structure from the left. It wound through a coiled-coil of alpha helices, found the folded ends of the polypeptide chains in a myosin molecule, twisted and dissolved." p14. The Durant embryo is no longer standard and the Durants, Svengaard and Potter are drawn willing or not into a conspiracy against Optimen rule.

A surreal interpretation by Hoot von Zitzewitz?  (ISFD) 1966

The Optimen leader Calapine by Paul Alexander (1976)

A number of the themes or ideas that Herbert will develop in other stores are here such as an interest in genetics engineering and a stratified society.  Many can also be found in his classic Dune sequence, the Durant's powers of communication and "body reading" seems similar the abilities of the Bene Gesserit, it is revealed that the oldest Optimen is 80,000 years old and that Optimen rule has resulted in stagnation similar to the extremely long rule of Leto II Atreides in the Dune novels. The conversion of a long lived ruling class to a religious or mythic status also occurs in Dune. While I often complain about the excessive length of current SF novels at 156 pages The Eyes of Heisenberg could have been longer. I did feel that the society created was complex enough that I would have liked to see it described more fully, I also felt the Optimen Cyborg conflict both historic and current, and the Cyborgs in general could have benefited from a more detailed treatment. But I quite enjoyed the novel and found upon rereading portions for this post there were levels of complexity I missed the first time.

David O'Connor cover, NEL reprinted 1981

Frank Herbert #1, Hellstrom's Hive

  Hellstrom's Hive, Bantam Books,  1973 (1982) cover by Paul Lehr

I mentioned in my last post my intention to look back at the works of some of the authors that were important to my teenage years. Frank Herbert was my first choice. I will concentrate on non-Dune work. I loved Dune, the vast implied history provided in the epigrams, the replacement of computers with mentats, the limitations on projectile weapons that gave it an archaic Planet Stories vibe with it’s duels, ornithopters and worms, the ecological message with its water reclamation and stillsuits. I did not really care for the two subsequent books or the franchise that grew out of them. As an archaeology prof once said, he used Dune to build up Paul and the next two to undermine much of book one, and I agreed. I know now there was a reason and I will discuss it as it relates to Hellstrom’s Hive later.

A friend recommended I read Hellstrom;’s Hive, I think as much to get my impressions as based on any fondness for the book. It follows that well worn SF path of insects and insect based societies, this is not a spoiler as the title and the first epigram both give this away

“ Words of the brood mother, Trova Hellstrom. I welcome the day when I will go into the vats and become one with all our people. 

                                               (Dated October 26, 1896)” (1)

The book begins with Carlos Depeaux observing The Farm, the location in Oregon where Nils Hellstrom creates nature documentaries on insects. Carlos and his partner Tymiena Grinelli work for a shadowy government or quasi-government body called the Agency. They have been dispatched to learn the fate of a previous agent Julius Porter who disappeared earlier while observing Hellstrom’s activities. The Agency is not the FBI or CIA  and appears to be motivated as much by commercial advantage as credible security threats. Indeed that initial investigation of Hellstrom’s activities began when an Agency operative copied a file that was left unguarded by a Hellstrom staff member in the MIT library. It described their work on Project 40, “a toroidal field disrupter” a electron (or particle) pump capable of influencing physical matter at a distance. (10) While experts tell the Agency that if it works, under certain conditions, it “could shatter the earth’s crust with disastrous consequences for all life on our planet.” (11) the  Agency is primarily interested in forcing Hellstrom to share this technology with them for use in metallurgy, the potential destructive power of the device does not seem to be a concern. Dzule Peruge the manager who eventually takes over the investigation is told by a board member “ You will inform the Chief that there must be profit in this somewhere.” (32) The Agency is painted in the most unflattering terms, once enlisted or sometimes coerced into joining, agents cannot leave. Utter secrecy about their work is required, they cannot quit, personal relationships are frowned on and children are forbidden. Upon retirement the best agents can hope for is to live out their lives in a Agency run retirement community. Peruge is an incredible misogynist and the organization incredibly mercenary, with little regard for the live of others including their own staff. Arrayed against the Agency we have another organization, Hellstrom’s Hive, while this is a hive society with a ruling council, Nils Hellstrom, the “prime male”, is very much in charge. He can call on all the resources of the hive, including a group of super scientists we meet later in the story. These “physical workers” have created technology, stun wands, advanced radio gear, nutritional additives etc. already superior to that of the Outside as the non-hive world is called. This enables hive members to potentially live hundreds of years. There are also a number of hive members working in positions of authority in the outside world, a senator, a judge, a deputy in Fosterville, the nearest town, among others, who have used their authority to protect the hive and it is this pro-hive network who has forced the Agency to work clandestinely.  Many hive members whose duties require a knowledge of the Outside are released temporarily from the hive for formal education or life experience among the Outsiders and their world. Other appear human but are mute, since the hive relies on hand signals and other non-verbal communication. The story moves quickly, the suspense is handled well as the conflict between the Agency and the hive intensifies as more agents disappear and more security organizations become involved. The tension grows and more and more details of the hive (mostly unpleasant) are revealed as we move towards what was for me a bit of a  Deus ex machina ending.

Interspersed with the action are Herbert’s signature epigrams, most are hive generated , Hellstrom’s journal entries, hive manuals, meetings of board meeting etc. However I did not find these as useful or engaging as those provided for Dune.  We learn the hive, it appears to be the only one, was founded by Trova Hellstrom in April of 1876, after 300 years among the Outsiders (47) but that is all the history Herbert provides, we don’t seem to have the same devotion to world building we see in Dune.  Trove mentions the “blessed Mendel” (48) but this does not seem to go anywhere either and Herbert’s passion for new or modified religions is not evident here.

I did enjoy Hellstrom’s Hive and anyone interested in societies modelled on insects should find it worth reading. It also provides a great look at Herbert’s creative process as a simple google search would demonstrate, more on that in the Spoilers and Quibbles section.

Spoilers and Quibbles

Herbert’s thought process in writing Hellstrom’s Hive can be seen in this quote from Wikipedia.

"David L. Wolper's quasi-documentary film The Hellstrom Chronicle, released in 1971, was the inspiration for Herbert's novel.^[1] In an interview with Tim O'Reilly, Herbert stated: "I said, 'In terms of what we want now, as we think of our world now, what would be the most horrible kind of civilization you could imagine?' And then I said, 'Now I will make... [the members of that civilization] the heroes of the story, by taking negative elements of the surrounding society and treating them as the villain.' That creates a very peculiar kind of tension.”

In both goals I think Herbert was successful, to some extent the hive does fulfill the role of hero, after discussing the book with the friend who recommended it, we both agreed we found ourselves siding with Hellstrom against the Agency early on. This does create the tension Herbert talks about because you know the hive is a dangerously regimented society with no personal liberty for its members who are recycled for food when their usefulness ends. By pitting them against the Agency whose agents may be “swamped” murdered and disposed of in swamp if they prove troublesome there is little to choose from and no personal liberty on either side. The fact that the Agency is acting from a profit motive rather than a security focus also helps create the tension Herbert was seeking.

It is interesting to see Herbert’s writing is sometimes inspired by specific pre-determined goals rather than the plot alone, Damien Broderick in The Cambridge Companion to Science Fiction (51) states “The deep irony of Dune’s popular triumph, and that of its many sequels, is Herbert’s own declared intention to undermine exactly that besotted identification with the van Vogtian superman-hero.” so we can see that the same impulse was working in Dune,  Herbert treats his novels as a form of intellectual exercise . Whether this  sometimes hurts the end product depends I guess on the reader but it certainly encourages Herbert to colour outside the lines of the expected tropes now and then. 

Quibbles

Hellestrom pays his film staff (hive members) but doesn’t collect income tax, we know where that gets you. Also certain things like the hive members wandering around the farm scantily clad or naked seem like a poor way of deflect attention. 

But my main frustration is the fact that we are not provided with any extended history for the hive. With the exception of the physical workers, stunted humans with large heads that are carried from place to place or ride in little cars, similar to the man of future beloved of early SF pulps, the hive members seem distressing human. Herbert makes no attempt, I am not sure how he would do it but I would like to see an attempt, to show us the view point of a worker with a little self realization or personal autonomy. I wonder if having satisfied the conditions he set in the quote above he did not bother to devote the energy needed to develop the hive concept fully. Certainly I want to know how group that (founded?) the hive started, how this all worked. In discussing the physical workers, Hellstrom says, “ They had proved their worth countless times and were a major reason the first colonists had ended their secretive migrations.” (198) what times? what other reasons? what migrations? I want details mister!