Well, what can I say. I reckon this is the best science fiction novel I’ve read since “Nineteen Eighty Four.” It’s total different but just as captivating and original. The first thing that is different about this story is that the main characters are all terminally ill with only a few months left to live. Hard to imagine them saving the world, right. Adams body is ravaged by Muscular Dystrophy, his muscles rapidly decaying. So too, DeShawn. The others suffer from incurable diseases, mostly cancer.
But Adam’s father had a plan to save his son. Transfer the human mind to a machine that could live on when the body has died. But, during his research he inadvertently creates Sigma, a high level Artificial Intelligence that plots to destroy humanity. Hey, what else is an AI to do?
It quickly takes control of a Russian nuclear missile base, killing all the soldiers stationed there and threatens nuclear annihilation if any aggressive action is taken to stop it.
Time is now running out and the minds of the six volunteers are transferred so they can stop Sigma before it’s too late.
Only Adam’s mind transfer is documented and it is excellently written. There is just about the right amount of ambiguity over whether it is the same mind in the machine, or is just a copy that has just come into existence. The writer also deals very effectively with action and other sequences in the robotic mind.
What follows is all action. At times, it turns dark but just the right amount to keep you glued to its pages.
Interestingly, the author doesn’t consider his work to be science fiction –
This novel is not science fiction. I’m a science journalist, as well as a novelist, so I like to insert lots of facts into my books. The technologies described in “The Six” are real. The electronic brains of the Pioneers are based on experimental circuits now being developed in laboratories. Sooner or later, human intelligences are going to live inside machines. It’s just a matter of time.
Personally, I think he is wrong but it does make for a great yarn. The human brain is still not fully understood. I remember watching a documentary about it once. The smallest brain in the animal kingdom was in some sort of worm. They deprived it of all external stimulation. Still, every now and again, there was a burst of activity from its neurons. It was thinking to itself. This is something that the strongest computers cannot replicate.
But, perhaps something just as good has recently happened. Due to advances in gene therapy, Muscular Dystrophy may soon become a disease of the past.
I give “The Six” five stars out of five. And the best thing is that it is part of a trilogy.
Mark's Writing Corner 