Author: Frank Herbert
Publisher: Phoenix Pick
Binding: Paperback
Publication Date: 2008
This nice little book published by Phoenix Pick earlier this year contains two of Frank Herbert’s early stories, about 80 pages in total. Both Missing Link and Operation Haystack have originally been published in Astounding Science fiction in 1959. They both feature the remarkably perceptive investigator Lewis Orne, who’s job it is to recognize signs violence or situations that can lead to violence and prevent it from getting out of control . Herbert would use these two stories and the stories You Take the High Road and The Priests of Psi as the basis for his 1972 novel The Godmakers. Neither these stories nor the subsequent novel are Herbert’s best work but as usual he puts some very interesting ideas into them.
In Missing link we meet our main character, the green field agent Orne. He is being briefed by his superior on a difficult assignment. They have arrived at the home planet of a civilisation that has only recently reached a state of advanced technological development. The loss of a space ship has lead the organisation Orne is working for to believe the aliens may be hostile. It is up to Orne to figure out where the space craft is and if there is any reason not to wipe this potentially dangerous species of the face of the planet.
This story feels rushed. Orne has barely made contact when he’s figured out most of the problem. Sure there are a number of clues but I very much doubt anyone would go as far as to trust his intuition that far. The dark side of the moon bit, the solution to one of the riddles Orne faces, and the key to keeping this species in line doesn’t work for me either. Any civilization with any knowledge of astronomy should have figured out that there is no such thing as a dark side of a (tidally locked) moon. Only a side you can’t directly observe from the surface of the planet.
In Operation Haystack we meet a more experienced Orne. He’s been seriously wounded in one of his missions and not expected to live. Against the odds he pulls through and is immediately sent back into the field.This time he is sent to untangle a political conspiracy that has very deep roots indeed. The conspiracy is about to make a move that would have them in power but also one that could trigger all out war. To make matters even more interesting for Orne, his family seems to be involved.
This story works better than Missing Link. After a series of quite clever deductions by Orne he figures out how the conspiracy works. Of course understanding how things work and making use of that knowledge are two different things. The solution Orne picks is an interesting one. His motivations are not fully explained, apparently the risk of violence is enough to make him compromise, leaving the reader with something to think over after reading the story.
Herbert would later use the concepts and characters in his novel The Godmakers. Although you can still see the various stories it is based on Herbert did quite a bit of rewriting to turn it into a novel I thought the novel a more satisfying read. It’s interesting to see how Herbert has grown as a writer in the years between these stories and the novel. Herbert was never short of fascinating concepts for use in his books but the execution varies quite a bit. These are nowhere near his best, if you are not familiar with Herbert’s work I would start elsewhere. Not brilliant but still enjoyable for the Herbert fan. It’s good to see some of his work in print again. Dune of course is still readily available but a lot of his other work is pretty hard to find these days.
