Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Cover Artist: Michael Whelan
Publisher: Voyager
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
Publication Date: 1997
Clarke’s third entry in the series that started with what probably is his best known work, 2001: A Space Odyssey. Like 2010: Odyssey Two, Clarke maintains that is is not a direct sequel, but rather a variation to a theme. One could argue that such a huge novel as 2001: A Space Odyssey doesn’t need a sequel, would perhaps be better of without one, but I quite enjoyed 2010: Odyssey Two. Unfortunately the third entry in the series was weaker. It’s not a bad book but I felt it was rather predictable.
In 1986 Halley’s Comet passed through the inner Solar system and was visited a small fleet of probes. This was the inspiration for Clarke’s novel. He sets his story in 2061, the year of the next predicted pass of Halley’s Comet. By then technology has advanced far enough to make a landing on the comet possible. The luxurious spaceship Universe with with a number of famous people on board prepares for the trip. Among them is Heywood Floyd. Now over a century old his fame from his days on board the Leonov has faded a bit. His interest in space exploration hasn’t however.
In the mean time the Afrikaner scientist Rolf van den Berg on Ganymede, one of Jupiter/Lucifer’s larger moons, is trying to figure out the composition of a large feature visible on Europa. This moon is off limits to humanity ever since the events of 2010. Nobody has yet been willing to risk the wrath of the seemingly omnipotent alien race that left the monoliths. When van den Berg finally realizes what he has found the temptation becomes too much for some. Van den Berg joins an expedition that will do a flyby of Europa and launch a probe, something some would say violates the aliens’ restrictions, to gather more information. Not everybody is satisfied with a flyby though, the mission is sabotaged and one of it’s crew tries to force an landing. In the confusion that follows the ship crashes on Europa.
One of the crew members on the ship is interesting enough Floyd’s own grandson Chris. When news of the crash reaches the inner Solar system it quickly becomes clear only the Universe is the only available ship that can reach Europa on time to rescue the stranded crew before their supplies run out. They are to drop off their guests, refuel and depart of the Jovian moon with all haste. An officer on the Universe comes up with a plan that will knock of months of the journey. It is risky, a manoeuvre never before executed . Frank likes the idea and supports it even though, or perhaps because of, the fact all the passengers will be forced to accompany the rescue mission. After much debate Floyd convinces the authorities, much to the dismay of the Universe’s captain Smith (a very unfortunate name for a ship’s captain) and off they go on a rescue mission to Europa.
For a relatively short novel Clarke stuffs in a lot of material on the history of Earth. He predicts the end of apartheid in South-Africa for instance. By the time the book was written protests against apartheid had turned quite violent and Clarke apparently thought one such outbreak of violence would bring the regime to an end in the 2030s, causing a mass migration of Afrikaners. Thankfully history has shown this is not quite how it happened. Apartheid is just an aside in the novel though, the real link with the Afrikaners is the diamond production for which South Africa is known. In fact, Clarke has made me see the song Lucy in the sky with diamonds in quite another light. I always associated it with the Australopithecus Afarensis specimen named after this Beatles song.
Clarke also mentions that Afrikaans has become a language in danger of going extinct so van den Berg uses it to ensure the privacy of his communication with earth. It found this very amusing. Afrikaans does not have that many speakers, and it may well go extinct in the future. It has not differentiated from Dutch enough however, not the be mutually intelligible (in writing anyway). I will admit it takes a bit of effort but I can read Afrikaans just fine. While Afrikaans may well be may well be marginalized in the 2060s I very much doubt Dutch will have disappeared by then.
Clarke mixes this interesting future history with his usual blend of technological ideas and scientific concepts without making the novel a heavy read. I quite enjoyed those aspects of the novel, the description of the surface of the comet is brilliant for instance. Looking at the overall story though, it really is very thin. He hardly adds anything to what we already know about the monoliths and their builders. He adds some detail to the experiment we already know they are running on Europa at the very end of the book, mostly to set the stage for the final book in the series, but that is about it. In that sense the novel is a bit of a disappointment.
2061: Odyssey Three is definitely not as good as the two previous books in the Odyssey series. It is a light an enjoyable read but not a memorable one. Clarke has a way of writing very accessible and humorous hard science fiction and this book is no exception. He could have put a little more story in it though. I’m hoping the final part of the series will be better.
