I’ve been reading a lot more fiction since my Covid-19 lockdown began on 13th March. My interests are quite varied but I often return to my first love, science fiction – and I’m pleased to say that this 2013 tale from Kristine Kathryn Rusch did not disappoint!
I’ve had a soft spot for stories like this ever since I read a book about potholing accidents at school. Rather gruesome, I know, but what it kindled was a fascination about the exploration of confined spaces. A few years later I spent a miserable afternoon on an out-of-bounds course crawling around part of an abandoned coal mine – it was cold, wet, physically demanding and very painful… and not something I wanted to take up as a hobby!
Fast forward a couple more years and my interest in geology combined with trips to the famous limestone cave systems in Cheddar Gorge, Somerset, UK. 
Reading about cave diving convinced me that I didn’t want to do that either (I value my life far too much), but I did enjoy reading Martyn Farr’s seminal book on the topic, ‘The Darkness Beckons’.
Like an armchair quarterback, I can’t do it myself but I feel educated enough to have an opinion. And my opinion is that with ‘Diving into the Wreck’, Rusch has created a very authentic tale about how, in the future, people might explore (or pillage) abandoned spacecraft wrecks. These wrecks are full of dangers like sharp edges that could cut into a spacesuit, or desperate survivors of deep space accidents, malfunctioning technology or marauding pirates.
Like cave divers, once inside a wreck her explorers take care to be tethered and map their routes, use caution near constricting tunnels or entrances, and pay close attention to their suit’s environmental systems, especially their oxygen supplies. The way they move around sounds a bit like swimming in the darkness of a cave, with their lights showing the way ahead while the areas behind fall into darkness.
The story comes to life in the relationships between a wreck explorer called ‘Boss’ and the team she hires to help her explore her latest find, an old ship called a Dignity Vessel. This ship could be extremely valuable. Unfortunately, it carries a piece of very dangerous technology, called a stealth field, that killed her mother and will now both tempt and scare her crew in different ways. Throw in a back-story about her father and contemporary military tech research and you have an excellent three-part book.
The only strange thing was that, despite my personal interests and Rusch having created a series of books in this setting, I don’t feel any need to read any more stories from her ‘Diving’ series. This one seemed pretty complete and the characters weren’t so compelling that I’d want to read any more about their lives. Still, a good story, well told – this one scores a solid 9/10 on the O2-tank scale.
Five years of Labour Party governance (Harold Wilson in ’74 – ’76, James Callaghan in ’76 – ’79) had brought the country to its knees. Callaghan had a tiny majority in Parliament and faced rampant Trade Union strikes that came to a head in the ‘Winter of Discontent’ (Winter ’78-’79) – I still remember eating cold food by candle light because of power cuts. Public employees were walking out leaving food and fuel undelivered, rubbish uncollected, and bodies unburied. No government that can’t feed its people or bury the dead can survive, and Callaghan was ousted by Margaret Thatcher’s Conservatives on 3rd May 1979.
Quatermass is a quintessential British scientist of the post-war era, smart but somewhat dour, somewhat ‘Establishment’ but out on the edge. In this final tale in the Quatermass quadrilogy, the Professor is searching for his grand-daughter, Hettie, across the ruins of the country. The UK, and the wider world at large, have slumped into social and economic collapse, and he sums it all up in a few sharp sentences during a TV interview at the start of the book:
The Planet People gather at historically symbolic meeting sites (mostly stone circles) in the belief that they are going to be ‘taken to the Planet’. Quatermass witnesses a group of Planet People being destroyed by a beam of light that turns them into a crystalline ash. He investigates what has happened with the help of other scientists and eventually discovers that the young people are being harvested by an alien force.
I first became aware of Michael Crichton’s story “The Andromeda Strain” through the 1971 film starring Arthur Hill, David Wayne, James Olsen and Kate Reid. Having seen the film, I wanted to read the book, and was not disappopinted with it! I’ve just read it again about thirty years later – it was still as engaging as I remembered.
Wildfire’s job is to examine the satellite in a secure bio-lab facility, classify how the deadly organism functions, and then find a cure for it. The facility reminded me of an underground Titan missile base. Once the team have travelled down to Level V, being increasingly decontaminated as they descend, they are essentially cut off from the surface with only computers and machines linking them to the outside world. Wildfire is clinical, clean, cold and dispassionate. The opinions of the computer programs come faster than the humans could form them and are unchallenged. The message is clear: technology can fix anything if the smartest people are using it.
Using a vast array of computer-driven tests, the team eventually discover the Andromeda organism. Andromeda seems to be able to directly convert energy into matter without the need for digestion or respiration. It has a crystal structure and grows without DNA, RNA or any amino acids. It has also evolved into a form that can destroy (digest?) plastic-rubber. Although not lethal in that form, it escapes from confinement and the nuclear fail-safe is activated. The team realise that if the bomb detonates the energy released will probably result in Andromeda taking over the Earth – the story ends with them trying to avert that crisis. which I am not going to spoil here!
I remember enjoying the film as more of a sci-fi adventure yarn than a horror movie – after ALIEN that was a surprise.
However, it’s a miracle that I ever picked this wonderful book up. What were Harper thinking when they published it in this cover? That image speaks to no genre, certainly not sci fi (in my opinion).
The RAF Museum near Watford, London, is an understated gem. Entrance is free (parking cost £5) but the range of aircraft on display is extraordinary!
Lee J. Russell, creative 
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