Jack McDevitt Seeker

Seeker

Jack McDevitt

Ace, Nov 2005, $24.95, 368 pp.

ISBN: 0441013295

Amy Kohler shows antiques dealer Alex Benedict a decorated cup with an eagle and strange language etched onto it. Alex looks up the language, and says it is Mid-American English, last used in the third millennium. Amy is stunned that she possesses an artifact that is nine thousand years old, but Alex says it is probably recent with just an ancient inscription, though he has no idea outside of academia who would use a dead language like English, especially on a cup.

As he looks closer at the relic, Alex becomes convinced that the cup is from the mythical space vessel the Seeker, that legend says along with the Bremerhaven, transported 5,000 expatriates from the religious intolerance of twenty-seventh century United States. They supposedly founded a colony on the planet, Margolia, but no one ever heard from the colonists again, so they are part of the mythos. Alex and his assistant, pilot Chase Kolpath, begin to follow clues while a rival follows them. Pirates await their return to steal their booty, aliens control information, and a Survey team wants them stopped.

This science fiction adventure is quite exciting in spite of the over kill of opponents that seem to run the gamut of outer space adventures (besides the above there are killing robots and weird aliens), Jack McDevitt spins a fun futuristic thriller. Readers will appreciate how the future looks back and interprets twenty-seventh century America, the same way archaeologists do to ancient and prehistorical societies. Alex and Chase come across as the good guys against a horde of nasty dudes, though the heroes are artifact mercenaries (somewhat like Han Solo) in a fine tale, that fans of Mr. McDevitt will appreciate.