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Published - Out Now

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Humanity has spread to the stars...

For the first time in thousands of years, we have also discovered the Other. The alien. A being so unimaginably complex that it makes us all look like children.

The PCS Blue Cherry Blossom, a long range interstellar freighter, is tasked with the ultimate voyage. What lies at the heart of the galaxy? Who and what is out there? Is it even possible to survive?

Against a backdrop of relentless political and corporate maneuvering, a new crew sets out, prepared to risk their lives and their deaths to set forth into the void and look for answers. To go where no human has ever gone before.

And thus begins a new space odyssey.

While this book can be read very much as a stand-alone it is related to the very different The Salvage Crew by Yudhanjaya Wijeratne which also features AI minds and great SF!

The ability for us to explore is a key part of being human. What is over the hill, the sea and the stars is very much part of the human journey of discovery. Not only do we have the rewards of discovery but also the process of exploring the world itself explores and changes us observers – we learn new things and start to see the world in different ways. Curiosity may be dangerous to cats but for humans its essential. In science fiction we are in that unusual time where much of the golden age ideas where we zipped around galaxies in seconds feels impossible as our understanding of science has put limits on what is possible any time soon. But what if we were not locked out of the universe anymore? This is the premise of Yudhanjaya Wijeratne’s excellent and unusual science fiction novel Pilgrim Machines that for me gets into that interesting debate what is science fiction for?

In the future we’ve increased the size of human space from our solar system to about 40 light years. This has mainly been through the invention of the AI ships. A fusion of human and machine that power starships that send crews in suspended animation across the gaps between stars as that pesky speed of light still is a barrier to face. The ship Blue Cherry Blossom (BCB) has seen it all from being a cruise liner, cargo hauler to let’s say some less than legitimate operations on behalf of major powers. She is asked to work on the biggest find an alien ship calling itself Beacon. It is from a more ancient and advanced civilisation and is more interested in human poetry than our technical specs. It offers a challenge to build a new type of engine and try to use it. BCB is chosen for these tasks by the other Minds and she and her crew trial out the new kit successfully but find more options await. A journey to the heart of the galaxy, meetings with the oldest races ever and extreme danger await but what does the exploration mean for the ship and her crew too?

This story completely won me over as it has a power of creating spectacles of wonder and carries an emotional drama that holds everything together because this is a story interested in the power of the journey. In some ways there is a fear that science fiction has reached a point where science has put some blocks in the way – that pesky light speed and all sorts of energy issues. Big epic tales seem to belong now purely to space opera (and handwavium) while the harder side of SF sems to limit us to our still very large solar system. Wijersatne though achieves an interesting balancing act – yes, we have a high-tech ancient alien offering a McGuffin but that’s quite incidental to the story which for me captures the aspects of space-set SF that are the most compelling the idea of going further and further than we have been before and yet still has some unique aspects that speak to science fiction’s history (and future too)

Character-wise there is a surprise as our main character turns out to me a starship AI. Blue Cherry Blossom is a fascinating post-human character. They lived a human life, saw poverty but found the attraction of the stars as a compelling way out and opted for transformation into an AI mind. This means we have someone who gets being human but then has had a host of unusual experiences, often travelling space lanes while her crew is asleep, meeting other minds who all too have their own games and agendas. The key to BCB though for me is they want to explore – they’re not as interested in the human AI political we start to understand through her interactions with other Minds; life had got a little predictable doing the same jobs seeing the same things and so suddenly having your perspective changed by alien science awakens her curiosity once again and that is quite an infectious feeling she shares as she tells us her story.

While we may have a device to get us to higher speeds the key is its not easy. We move from 0.5 to higher speeds and yet these are still lengthy journeys. Space travel isn’t easy. BCB and her crew are going to be pushed – they’ll be cut off from human space, not see fellow ships or families and structurally push technology and BCB’s integrity to its limits. That’s the price but Wijeratne puts as much emphasis on the rewards. We have wonderful descriptions of seeing stars created in nebula, multiple stars orbiting each other, strange new worlds finally revealed and even the majesty of a black hole sitting at the heart of everything. This is a story that brings these real places to life and we get the feel of that awe that even a massive human AI spaceship is made to feel small. BCB and her crew see this for the first time. The map is getting updated, they’re gathering knowledge about what is beyond the borders we had and pushing our science to new levels. On top of that Wijernate weaves much more science fictional elements that feel both familiar and yet also equally fresh. As well as the powerful Beacon we have a more enigmatic ship in the form of an entity she calls The Stranger who speaks an extremely over-elaborate ornate type of language that even translated into human language is hard to decipher. We see destroyed battle fleets, an immense alien and just as much s the stellar landscape we find this is about wonder. These are sights that no human can see, and it puts perspective onto BCB and the crew. They may be most advanced human ship, and yet other races have beaten them, lived and died before we even left the Earth and in many ways we are now the ants to these ancient giants. This is a story exploring the consequences of a journey.

Just as much as BCB gathers technical knowledge there is also a subtle change across both her and her crew. Its perspective, it is deciding to sacrifice a more normal life for what is becoming a vocation. The crew here are not often main characters, but the way BCB talks about them and shares her growing insights means we start to feel them change too. It is a crew not simply of space professionals, but we have artists, a Buddhist priest and other unusual choices. A crew feeling a call to travel not simply seeing always just as the job to do. They too as time passes start to move beyond human flesh and yet even that won’t stop people dying before the voyage is over. Wijerante places in the story references to our pre-occupation with travelling from the idea of the first travellers to go beyond a sea’s horizon but we also get references from the odyssey to Robert Frost. Our human desire to wander is quite a key part of being human and the tale also brings in Buddhist philosophy too – we travel because we need to see what’s next but also because we know travel changes us. BCB finds the journey offering her new insights, more important than her old life and indeed a desire to find out more – who came before us and possibly what is next for us? The book’s title points the way this tale goes very cleverly

For a fairly average sized tale this tale packs an epic journey, big questions about being human, going beyond human and on top of that the feeling of awe and wonder that for me was the original attraction of SFD. To dream what could be possible but also a reminder that the act of going beyond the next frontier is integral to human nature. It feels both a love letter to SF (many easter eggs can be spotted) but also delivers a reinvigorated future. There are many more light years to go before we humans sleep. A gorgeous read and highly recommended!