Universal Language - The Airlocked Room Mystery by Tim Major

I would like to thank the author for an advance copy of this novella in exchange for a fair and honest review

Publisher - Newcon Press

Published - 6/4

Price - £9.99 paperback £3.99 Kindle eBook

Investigator Abbey Oma is dispatched to a remote and failing Martian colony tasked with solving the murder of scientist Jerem Ferrer. The killing took place in an airlock-sealed lab, and the only possible culprit is a robot incapable of harming humans... The more Abbey learns the more she comes to realise that the case is by no means as open and shut as she might have hoped, with political and commercial interests at stake and local resentments threatening both her work and her very life.

Science Fiction and crime stories have an interesting history. Asimov loved creating weird logic puzzles with robots committing or sometimes solving crimes while these days you will note many crime novels are often obsessed with new technology that can recreate the victim or the culprit from a small piece of leftover DNA in about 5 minutes before the episode ends. I think this is ultimately a case where the better and worse natures of humanity collide; where the writers are asking us how far can science create or solve these event? In Tim Major’s novella Universal Language, we initially get a fascinating mystery to solve while we are in the hands of a unique investigator and then get into a wider tale exploring humanity itself.

Mars was once the great hope for humanity. Terraforming was on the rise and a fleet of cruisers containing a mix of human and robots were launched to the surface with populations all awaiting to find the best locations, settle and construct amazing locations that space tourists would love. Sadly, the science proved faulty, and the money drained out. The crawler crews were abandoned to their own devices slowly driving across the Martian surface. On one crawler Tarsis Caraway a scientist is found dead in his lab; there appears to be only one suspect an aye-aye; an very early type of AI robot, that remembers nothing of what happened. On the crawler a mysterious investigator known as an Optic arrives to find out what happened which touches upon smuggling, AI technology and a strange new religion taking hold of the remaining colonists.

What very quickly grabs you in this story is the narration by the investigator Abbey Oma. We are used in SF to investigators going down the noir route - a hard as nails cynical private eye. Here we get someone that manages to be a mixture of The Doctor and Columbo she is a six-foot three private investigator who loves banter, often has to resist the urge to hug people and is very perceptive at working through the evidence and witnesses. Major has made her voice really unique and compelling – she adds emotional depth to the tale and isn’t just in this for money she has a past and perhaps herself a need for a few answers. I found myself really caring for what happened and enjoyed her being the trickster throwing herself headfirst into danger to answer some questions.

But a good investigator needs a good mystery and this one is a doozy. Initially we feel we are back into the world of Asimov where the laws of robotics mean humans should be safe but as Abbey reminds us robots are programmed by fallible humans. The story therefore goes one into a big question of how the suspect did this but then also in the why. The how is smart and I’ll leave that one for you dear reader to unravel what really works is how Major pulls the Martian world together for us. We have Martian crabs that contain diamonds and may send us worrying dreams; seascapes made of sand falling into disrepair and a weird church of humans and robots seeking common meaning. Its delicately done but at novella length I feel I felt all aspects of this weird stagnating culture and all it helps explain the mystery itself but with an added wonder that there are sights here that you will never get on Earth. Throw in fighting and dramatic escapes and some alarming but true pieces of human history it becomes a wonderfully constructed story with lots to discover.

This is a very successful novella mystery and also a great piece of science fiction. I’d love to see more of this universe one day but thoroughly think fans of old and new science fiction will both find plenty to enjoy. Highly recommended!