ConSentiency Universe

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The Caleban cycle or the ConSentiency Universe is a creation of the science fiction author Frank Herbert . It includes the short stories A matter of traces matters (1958), The tactful saboteur (1964), as well as the novels The Last Caleban (1970) and The Dosadi Experiment (1977).

The ConSentiency Universe

Many thousands of years in the future, humans and other conscious beings, all of whom are referred to as "sentients," have colonized large parts of the galaxy . They live together in a kind of federal state order, with some peoples like the reptile-like Palenki or the amphibian-like Gowachin enjoying greater autonomy. The society is basically democratically organized, in which the so-called Bureau for Sabotage (BuSab) plays a special role as a galactic security and secret service. Jorj. X. Mckie is one of the agents of this service and appears in all stories of the cycle. Outwardly and in character more of an anti-hero , Mckie mostly does his jobs through empathy for alien species, unconventional approaches and sometimes through his sense of humor.

It depends on the dishes

A hearing of the "Special Committee for Intergalactic Culture" takes place on the planet Aspidiske VII of the star Iota Carinae. The assembled, including Jorj. X. Mckie deal with the topic of preserving historically significant objects on pioneering worlds such as Gomeisa III of the star Beta Canis Minoris. An old settler named Hilmot Gustin is interviewed and it turns out that he is the inventor of the Rollitor, with which a ball-shaped life form could be used as a draft animal. In fact, the very first wheelchair can still be found in a hall and can now be exhibited as a museum piece.

The tactful saboteur

The "Authorized" or Extraordinary Saboteur Jorj X. McKie is forced to incapacitate his boss and director of the Bureau of Sabotage (BuSab) in order to track down the missing agent Napoleon Bildoon. This belongs to the Pan-Spechi people, who do not consist of isolated individuals, but of groups of five beings, whose self -awareness is only temporarily present in an individual and is then passed on. McKie's problem is communicating with the Pan-Spechi and using delicate information in a legal process that threatens the existence of the BuSab.

The last caleban

About 90 years before the events of history ( Whipping Star in the English original) dived the Calebans (or Calebaner) and offered the space-faring nations of the galaxy, which nevertheless already faster than light spaceships used, the use of jump doors for the teleportation of. With this so-called S'eye technology, the immediate journey from and to any location beyond the known galaxy became possible. The Calebans did not ask for anything in return as long as they could learn about the cultures of the Sentients , the conscious beings. However, more and more calebans disappeared for no apparent reason. Finally, one of the BuSab agents, Alichino Furuneo, reported that a spherical spacecraft belonging to the mysterious Calebans, a so-called "beach ball", had landed on a remote coastal region of the planet Cordiality. First, the BuSab agent Mckie was called in to investigate, who succeeded with Furuneo in contacting a rather feminine-looking Caleban with the unusual name Fannie Mae . Communication with the energy being was only possible telepathically and required the use of a special psychotropic drug for the common sentients . Apparently this Caleban had a bizarre contract with a very rich and powerful, but psychopathic woman named Mliss Abnethe, which puts the lives of all jumpgate users at risk. Shortly before the possible destruction of the Caleban Fannie Mae, McKie finds out that she actually represents the consciousness of a sun, namely Thyone in the star cluster of the Hyades .

The Dosadi experiment

The amphibious gowachim have been conducting a risky sociocultural experiment on the planet Dosadi for many generations under the protection of an impassable energy field maintained by a caleban. In a toxic environment and few safe areas, 300 million people and gowachim live in appalling conditions, with the exact location of Dosadis only known to a few. The struggle for survival, according to the experimenters' plan, should produce more valuable individuals in order to provide the Gowachim elite with bodies of better quality for their body transfers. But now Dosadi has become an incalculable risk that the creators themselves feared. The experiment is to be stopped by destroying the planet.

Jorj X. McKie from the Intergalactic Bureau for Sabotage (BuSab) is dispatched to prevent this end of the world . First he negotiates with one of the high-ranking Gowachim, Aritch, the high master of the "racing tribe". This gives him important information about Dosadi, but also seems to hide a few crucial points. Irritating for Mckie is the fact that Aritch trains a female from the species of Wriver named Ceylang to Legum, a representative in Gowachin law. The Gowachin had previously had only one outside world clerk, namely Mckie himself, trained as a representative of the BuSab for Legum, with every trial being a game of life and death. In this context, the inclusion of a wrive seemed particularly critical, as this species treats the killing of an individual according to a clearly defined system of blood revenge. Still, McKie lets himself be teleported through the energy barrier, leaving him less than three days to find a solution.

expenditure

  • Frank Herbert: Eye . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1985, ISBN 3-453-00959-2 .
  • Frank Herbert: The last caleban . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-30194-3 .
  • Frank Herbert: The Dosadi experiment . Wilhelm Heyne Verlag, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-453-30619-8 .
  • Frank Herbert: A matter of traces. In: Eye. iBooks, New York 2001, ISBN 0-7434-3479-X , pp. 101-115.
  • Frank Herbert: The tactful saboteur. In: Eye. iBooks, New York 2001, ISBN 0-7434-3479-X , pp. 159-190.
  • Frank Herbert: Whipping Star . Tor paperback edition, New York 2009, ISBN 978-0-7653-1775-9 .
  • Frank Herbert: The Dosadi Experiment . Tor paperback edition, New York 2002, ISBN 0-7653-4253-7 .

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