Fiction: Science Fiction, Techno-thriller
The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton and The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson
Published in 1969, Andromeda Strain tells the story of a potentially catastrophic event. It begins with the deaths of everyone in a small Arizona town except an old man and a baby. Some people have committed suicide while other people died when their blood solidified. What is the connection between the two unlikely survivors?
“And yet there had never been a biologic crisis. The Andromeda Strain provided the first.”
Several years prior to the deaths in Arizona, Project Wildfire, a covert government project, was created for the purpose of preparing for the inevitable event that an alien life form, likely bacterial-sized, would end up on Earth and potentially cause a threat to humanity. Millions of dollars were allocated to the project which allowed for a state-of-the-art, computer “heavy” laboratory to be built to study and contain potential extraterrestrial threats.
Something – the Andromeda Strain - did hitch a ride on a government satellite which crash landed into the small town. The satellite is taken to the Project Wildfire facility and studied by the elite group of scientists selected for the project. It is up to the team of scientists to study this potentially catastrophic, world-ending end strain of unknown life before it is too late. With nuclear protocols in place to destroy the town, the facility, and anything else, if needed, the scientists go to work around the clock to come up with a cure knowing that they will be left to die if they are contaminated by the unknown strain.
Scientific technologies and methods are the real heroes in The Andromeda Strain. Biochemistry, virology, biology, and physiology may seem “boring,” but I found these technical aspects interesting. The story was a little slow at times but had good pacing that kept me interested and by the end, I was on the edge of my seat for the climactic finale.
“In the end your preparations did not matter, or even your intuition. You needed your luck, and whatever benefits accrued to the diligent, through sheer, grinding hard work.”
Fast forward fifty years to 2019, and The Andromeda Evolution is the only sequel to be authorized by Crichton’s estate. The author, Daniel Wilson, has a background in science, specifically artificial intelligence and robotics. He has taken Crichton’s original “techno-thriller” and brought it into the 21st century. Not only does he modernize the technology itself, but he also acknowledges public technology and how social media plays into government operations
The Andromeda Strain has evolved and turns up in the Amazon rain forest, devastating flora and fauna, and has established a huge, tower-like structure. Instead of a state-of-the-art laboratory, scientists work in the rain forest. They are relying on help from a frustrated International Space Station astronaut and discover the Andromeda evolution has developed the ability to elicit human help in creating a “space elevator.” The world is still under risk from a catastrophic end. Again, the heroes are a team of scientists with some assistance from an unlikely source, an indigenous boy. The jungle provides an ominous setting for some spooky scenes and the sequences set in outer space are tense.
Both books provide interesting reading with some sections being a bit “slow” due to the inclusion of scientific explanation. If I had to choose just one, I much preferred the original book - The Andromeda Strain.
THE MOVIE
Released in 1971, The Andromeda Strain (Amazon Prime Video) was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Hugo Award. The movie features computers and the scientists’ interactions with them. No effort is made to humanize the computers (like HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey) and the Wild Fire scientists go about their business efficiently. What’s fascinating is the way they pick up the computer state of mind. The scientists occasionally have some moments of humor, but as the story reaches its climax, you can sense their only hope is to become robotic.
The movie is very 1970s! I guess that is why I liked it so much. The screenwriter did a great job.
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