The Cassini Division

Third novel, but first to reach these shores, from Scotland resident MacLeod. In the 24th century, Ellen May Ngwethu's Cassini Division patrols space around Jupiter, preventing excursions by the Jovians. In past centuries, you see, post-humans who transformed themselves with nanotechnology went crazy and almost destroyed human technical civilization with computer viruses, diseases, and mind-controlling memes. The surviving post-humans took up residence inside Jupiter, while the new, socialist-anarchist Solar Union developed virus-proof, non-electronic nanotechnological Babbage computers. Others, slaves of the post-humans, escaped the conflict through a wormhole to New Mars. Here, first-person narrator Ellen profoundly distrusts the Jovians and also suspects that the capitalist-anarchist New Martians possess downloaded copies of post-humans who, if woken, could pose the same threat as the Jovians (they live a thousand times as fast as humans and so have progressed unimaginably far). Ellen needs to control the wormhole, which was created by the post-humans from physics described by I. K. Malley. She grabs Malley from his tiny enclave on Earth, but he refuses to help her wipe the Jovians out without first attempting to communicate with them. The beautiful, ethereal Jovians respond through a consensus construct, providing information and reassurances. Ellen isn't convinced, though, and proceeds with her plans to bombard Jupiter with comets before taking her ship though the wormhole to New Mars. The New Martians are contemptuously confident that they can handle the Jovians, and they propose to go back through the wormhole to trade with them! So, if the comets strike and Ellen is wrong, an entire advanced civilization will die. But if the comets are diverted, and she's right, the Jovians will destroy humanity and enslave the survivors. Deliciously ironic, brilliantly imagined, MacLeod's witty and intelligent yarn packs a tremendous wallop. More, please! (Kirkus Reviews)