does this tell us something about today's present, crazy world ? Weird science at its decadent best.or worst.Īfter I finished the Gaia trilogy, I knew I had to keep going through all of John Varley's work. Now they want the bill paid! A surprisingly entertaining space opera for people who like this type of thing, not as strange as when this was written over forty years ago. 'Good Aliens', the Ophiuchi Hotline, has sent four hundred years of messages from distant, remote space, helping mankind's technology progress rapidly. By the way Ophiuchi is pronounced, off-e-yoo-ki ( assuming you're interested). Maybe Calypso will see her two wandering sisters there.if alive. Lilo sent there, wants to leave the depressing place quickly, and with the help of her new, good friends, somehow sends this satellite at the near speed of light towards Alpha Centauri, the nearest star to our Sun. Guess nobody reads history books anymore, change that to e -books.'Tweed' a former president of Luna, with a secret base deep inside a Jovian moon, Poseidon, but not for long. The Free Earth people are led by I kid you not, a man or is it a woman? Who dresses, talks, behaves and looks like the notorious 19th century New York City corrupt politician, Boss Tweed, he has many schemes to defeat the invaders and return to Terra. One of the trio even falls into Jupiter 's enormous, lethal atmosphere, although dazzling, not a happy situation, however a wonderful, breathtaking ride while it lasts. At one time there are three versions of Lilo running around in various planets, spaceships and moons. Poor Calypso has really bad luck, getting killed often, including the original and being resurrected in new clone bodies, quite confusing to say the least. These fanatics need her to help them recover the blue planet, a hopeless, long sought dream. Just in the nick of time, she's rescued by the Free Earthers, they substitute Lilo with her clone, in the bleak death house. The little left of the human race is scattered all around the solar system, from Mercury to Pluto, and even their inhospitable satellites. Set in the far future, when Earthlings have lost the Earth, to powerful, ruthless, alien invaders. What annoys Lilo a great deal though, is the death sentence after being arrested and found guilty by the strict court. Lilo-Alexandr-Calypso is your typical mad scientist on the moon, of the female persuasion, doing illegal human genetic research, that it's proscribed by the state, doesn't bother her one bit.

The ophiuchi hotline