The Mote in God's Eye

Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Roderick Blaine is the captain of the Imperial Space Navy ship MacArthur, a post he was recently promoted to when the last captain stayed behind on New Chicago as an ambassador trying to help the planet recover from war and terrorism. Lady Sally Fowler had been kidnapped and held for ransom while on the planet. She is now on the MacArthur as the ship returns to New Scotland. So is Horace Bury, a trader who may have been behind the uprising at New Chicago.

But while returning, an amazing thing happened. An alien space ship entered the system. Rod Blaine took the MacArthur to meet the ship and became part of First Contact between humans and another race, those the humans call Motes. Because of the Alderson drive, the MacArthur is able to travel the many light years to the Mote system and home world. The ship is now loaded with scientists wanting to meet and study the Motes. The aliens are beyond anything they had imagined.

The Motes appear to have remarkable powers with tools. The first ones the humans meet are the Browns, the engineers. But most of their interaction is done with the Mediators, a caste of Motes bred for the purpose of working out disagreements between their Masters. These Mediators now are the Mote ambassadors. Many of the humans, including Sally Fowler, Rod Blaine, and Horace Bury get personal Motes who interact directly with them. There is so much humans can learn from the Motes. What can the Motes gain from humans?

The Mote in God's Eye is a classic science fiction First Contact novel. Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle created a universe far in our future where mankind is still recovering from near annihilation from atomic war. This novel is one of a number of stories set in that universe. It is an involved novel, going through the steps necessary when contacting a new group and not knowing whether they are safe or not. Are they friends or foe? If friends, how can the groups help each other? If foe, how can one suppress and rule the other? Or are either possible?

Published in the mid-1970's, The Mote in God's Eye occasionally shows its age - they drink percolated coffee, for example. But most of it is still solid science fiction, even if now some of the theory may be disproved. Niven and Pournelle are masters at creating the conflicts between groups meeting for the first time.

I found the first half of the book slow, but was still drawn in enough to keep going. The second half of The Mote in God's Eye picked up, especially after the infestation of Watchmakers reveals itself. It's high on the list of 100 Best Science Fiction Novels, so is worth the time of any true science fiction fan.

Caves of Steel by Isaac Asimov