REVIEW: Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky

I was unaware of or familiar with Adrian Tchaikovsky until my son told me his girlfriend had just finished reading Children of Time, and she thought that I would like this novel. She was right. I not only liked this novel, but I also loved it. It was chock full of all the issues/themes I find a good science fiction novel should have. I found it difficult not to forge into the next chapter, and I often found myself reading into the next section even when I had imposed a time limit on how much I was going to read, often late into the night. I find that well-written novels such as this follow what I call the Lays Potato Chip rule: you can't eat just one. So, hours later, finding it hard to put down, knowing that I would regret my decision in the morning, I give you Arthur C. Clarke Science Fiction Book of the Year Award-Winning novel, Children of Time.

As I mentioned earlier, Children of Time address some thought-provoking themes: moral, ethical, political, historical, AI, gods, evolving societal development, enslavement, communication and the perilous cost of human involvement while attempting to colonize the expanse of space. The hubris of humanity and how human arrogance wore like a badge of desperation is a license to exercise might over sharp intellect. The aggressive nature of man unfolds before us terminating in a thrilling conclusion.

The continuing destruction of planet Earth has given urgency to finding off-world accommodation for an ever-threatened human race. Enters Dr. Avrana Kern, the possible saviour of the human race. She plans to use an unsuitable previously terraformed planet and seed it with a nanovirus and monkeys, an experiment which might render humanity a New Earth. However, a group of zealots with Earthbound ties sees an alternative end to this abomination and plants an operative on Dr. Kern's space lab foiling the prospective experiment. Unbeknownst to Dr. Kern, the operation is a technical success, but it has careened in an alternate direction veering from its original course. The leading plot now established sets a series of subplots in motion.

The Earth has witnessed another warring conflict. This time, resulting in probable annihilation of the human race: the Earth remains silent. The continuing survival of the human race is imperative, so humanity launches an ark, the Gilgamesh built as humanity's final stab at the most critical biological imperative: survival. Built to last a long time, the Gilgamesh carries within its walls the seed of civilization in stasis form with a small contingency "Key Crew" keeping mechanical order as the craft hurls through endless space. At the beginning of this narrative, the Gilgamesh has been travelling for one thousand, eight hundred and thirty-seven years. Aboard the Gilgamesh, are three personages essential to the livelihood of the ship and its cargo: captain Vrie Guyen, chief Key Crew engineer Isa Lain, and classicist/historian Holsten Mason. These three are often taken out of stasis when there is a perceived crisis, a human commodity equivalent to switching a computer when the need arises. Their input necessitates the success and survival of the project. The voyage, based on the premise that they will stumble upon a suitable planet sooner or later, finally crosses the orbit of one such world. But, here's the rub, it's already occupied.

The green apparition, a nameless orb, heralds a diverse, sentient form of life far removed from the bipedal norm. The nanovirus has crested in the societal development of the planet's arachnoid population as the dominant species. Enhanced by the relationship forged with Dr.Kern, this form of life, together with advice from their new messiah, produces strides in this matriarchal society. This civilization's evolution is actively cultivated through the diligence of three of its citizens: Portia, Bianca and Fabian (many generations harbouring the same names through genetic affiliation). We witness the technical and civil maturation of a culture that has sidestepped the wheel and yet has achieved monumental strides. This burgeoning society, developers of rudimentary space travel, defend their planet, clashing with an inimical, barbaric human element for their planetary rights. What results is a formidable confrontation with surprising results.

The genius of this novel stems from Tchaikovsky's learned background. His academics in both zoology and psychology lend themselves to a comfortable basis for the science in his science fiction. The science is real, and with some artistic licence, he creates a more plausible universe of possibilities. Let's examine some of these areas of science and fiction. In science fiction, we are familiar with the problematic concept of terraforming; the idea becomes a household term, especially when concerning the possible colonization of Mars. When considered in these terms, it becomes less fiction and approaches reality. Geologically and environmentally, terraforming becomes a project of epic proportions that, in many minds (scientific and lay), can be achieved through human ingenuity and intense labour. When viewed from this prospect, it becomes more science than fiction; therefore, within humanity's grasp.

Zoologically, Tchaikovsky has chosen the spider species Portia labiata to represent his novel nanovirus enhanced life form. This spider is known for its solitary, offensive, aggressive nature. What better vehicle for demonstrating how the nanovirus caused a spider whose natural tendency is seclusion to become social; the pursuit of its prey is relentless. The nanovirus accentuates this attribute as a contributing evolutionary factor. Now it can focus on building a cultural society with cities and progress. 

Portia Labiata Spider

Let us consider the concept of evolutionary nanovirus advancement—currently, Nanoviridae impacts solely on the legion of legumes acting as its natural host, causing stunting, necrosis and death. Not a good outlook if you are a legume. However, more than a quadrillion, quadrillion individual virus exists on Earth, many of them can cross-species. Many can mutate spontaneously, making spillover a biological reality. The simplicity of viruses makes them prime candidates for genetic manipulation.

Furthermore, viruses may indicate a lack of delineation between living and non-living but contribute to the evolutionary continuum.  In some scientific arenas, discussions concerning how viruses can lose and gain genes make them essential evolutionary cogs¹.  Genetic variance and manipulation is a very complicated subject matter. Still, for this discussion, its suffice to say that Tchaikovsky is aware of this, and so choosing a nanovirus to do his evolutionary bidding does not appear as a far stretch. 

I enjoyed his tongue in cheek use of Gilgamesh from the poem the Epic of Gilgamesh as the eponymous name of the ship harbouring humanity's" adventurous, brave, but tragic figure symbolizing man's vain but endless drive for fame, glory, and immortality."²  The tragic spiral further exemplifies the theme with the egomaniacal slope that captain Guyen has on the Gilgamesh, the machinations of a mad man. 

Many might question: why have a classicist aboard the Gilgamesh? What possible function could a historian have in the survival of the human race? Lest we forget, that's the reason. The abstraction of long term space travel, stasis, with generations born countless light-years away from an Earth that may not even exist any longer is cause enough to board a classist. Being human encompasses more than mere biology; it is the collective experience of humanity that makes us human. Recorded history is the footprint that we leave behind in our wake. The survival of society as an entire species is dependent on Earth's evolutionary/revolutionary history. That's why a historian is needed no matter where humanity leaves its new-formed footprints. Additionally, a historian's presence may (when encountering a new unknown culture) help bridge communication gaps since a historian is versed in cultural interpretation.  

Concept Art by Gaelle Marco
2D/3D Concept Artist / Illustrator / Graphic Designer

By far, in my opinion, the most creative engine in this novel is the spider's trait of Understanding. Tchaikovsky has created a unique form of cognitive ability that embraces all aspects of learning and forms an original species' basis. The spiders lack a formal mode of recording their existence; that is, they have no written language in books to compile large amounts of data. Printing remains elusive. The closest they have to written records is a "Madame Defarge" style of knitting knots with silk to perpetuate societal events: "the spinning web of knowledge." However, due to the catalyst effect of the nanovirus, millennia of evolutionary development has accelerated the brain's neurological map. The species now has a formidable attribute unique unto itself. Enhanced is the ability to gain the currency of knowledge in a way that otherwise would have perished. Understanding embraces atavism, a sure-fire way ensuring genetic preservation. The combination of ancestry and nanovirus in tandem is delivered directly to offspring. Knowledge of a distant time preserved in remarkable detail becomes essential in a species that demonstrates little parental care. Understanding initially grew from the necessity of information exchange between parents and offspring. Still, Understanding has evolved so that any spider can receive Understanding by merely ingesting the distillate from any individual: even deceased ones. The mechanism of Understanding is such that once incorporated into mind and gene, it offers a vast knowledge base that can be accessed swiftly from obscurity. There is one caveat: Understanding, though permanent, can with time become historically blurred.  To date, the only example of anything that even remotely resembles Understanding is the pioneering work achieved by Dr. John Marzluff and his extraordinary study of crows. Future generations of crows react to stimuli that they never experienced, but somehow they have gained this knowledge, this Understanding³.

After reading and ruminating about Children of Time, it was apparent why this novel won the Arthur C. Clarke award. The book, on many levels, meets all the criteria of a well-written yarn. The engaging prose captivates and propels the reader into parts unknown while grounding them in probable, possible and plausible. In a small, obscure corner of the universe, space and time assume alternatives to what is known to exist; there exists a struggle for the preservation of life. The reader accepts these alternatives knowing full well that the unexplainable can swiftly become explainable. We become Holsten's conscience and are witness to remarkable achievements with historical impact. The author forces us to tap into our moral and ethical compass. As humans, we root for the "home team," the sentience of the human race, but as armchair explorers, we embrace the alienness of a nascent civilization carving out its right to life.    The Gilgamesh, now a two thousand five-hundred-year-old beacons of humanity, suffering the scars of structural senility, carrying the relics of a shipwreck within a shipwreck takes a final curtain call. Confrontation sometimes is unexpected and unavoidable; fear of the unknown is usually at the base of such actions.  Differences may be cultural and technological, suggesting various paths that evolution may take: big universe, big differences. 

 A remarkable adventure; should be included on everyone's "to read" list as a first-rate epic space opera.

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Footnotes

¹Viruses and Evolution – Viruses First? A Personal Perspective; by Karin Moelling and Felix Boecker; Website: Frontiers in Microbiology | Virology; Published: March 19, 2019

²Kramer, Samuel Noah (1963). The Sumerian: Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago, Illinois: University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-45238-8

³Gift of the Crows, 2012, John Marzluff PhD, Tony Angell, ISBN 978-1-4391-9873-5

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