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All Judgment Fled

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By the author of the Sector General series, this book details the arrival of a mysterious alien starship that takes up a solar orbit near that of Mars. Two Apollo-class Earthships carrying a total of six astronauts are launched to begin an investigation - only to be mindlessly attacked again and again by the varied and strange beings aboard the vessel - until one man figures out what these beings are - and where the crew actually is.

Matters are not improved with Earth's "help", since the gov't is far more concerned with their managing the _perception_ of what is going on than they are in find out what _is_ going on.

All Judgment Fled (the title is taken from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar) is an entertaining first contact novel. An object following an unnatural path is detected in the vicinity of Mars. Two American ships, each with a crew of three, are sent to investigate. They find an alien ship. It doesn't respond to signals, doesn't seem to be doing anything; its purpose is a mystery. Behaving rather foolishly, some crew members enter the ship and, having damaged their space suits in an encounter with violent but seemingly unintelligent aliens, find themselves stranded inside the ship. Oops!

The story is a study in the psychology of first contact. Three different alien species inhabit the ship. The humans must decide which species are intelligent, which are friendly, and why they're here. The six crew members (four astronauts, two in training) are selected more for their ability to survive the trip than for their expertise. The story's primary focus is on McCullough, whose medical background makes him the unofficial expert in the psychology of both humans and aliens. He is occasionally frightened to a state of witlessness -- an understandable and realistic reaction that adds credibility to the story. The task of survival on an alien ship is complicated by the divided reactions of all the people on Earth who are listening to the radio transmissions and who criticize the crew for being unnecessarily violent or insufficiently aggressive, for engaging in too much or too little exploration of the ship, and generally for mucking things up.

A shortcoming of the novel is that the crew members jump to conclusions that seem questionable, if not unlikely, given the scant evidence to support them. Nonetheless, their conclusions advance the plot, which moves along briskly. This isn't by any means a great novel -- at times it even seems a bit silly -- but it's well written and the plot ultimately works: the conflict between the crew and the bureaucrats back on Earth is just as interesting as the conflict between the humans and aliens on the ship.

Considering James White's general writing niche of xeno-medical science fiction, it's something new when you find a doctor in his novel who isn't a medical doctor. The cast All Judgment Fled contains a doctor of psychology and certainly the novel itself is loaded with a lot of armchair psychology- both of the individual and of the whole.

When the object, sixty million miles from earth and beyond the orbit of Mars, is spotted, a team of astronauts rather than scientists is sent on two cramp-quartered ships on a five month journey. Once there, their psychosis has already presented itself in the form of depression and uncertainty. Their following actions on the alien ship rattles the nerves of the viewers back on Earth and the resulting backlash from central control stresses the crew.

The killing of an alien onboard the alien ship may not have been the brightest idea of the crew but they were simply defending themselves while knowingly trespassing. Their logical deductions throughout the book are seamless, their answers to all the problems are unproblematic and the means they take for the end are self-assuredly justified. Further voyages into the craft are met with more bloodthirsty aliens which only confirms the crew's thoughts on the matter.

The novel is a largely narrative dictation of sequential events aboard the human ships and the alien ship. Nearly every chapter reviews the state of mind the crew are in and the opposing state the citizens of earth are in. Psychology plays a large part in the crews' actions and the words which are directed to the crew by central command. It's a bit maddening reading the words spoken from earth but I was in the same shoes and felt the struggle the crew were under when the unsympathetic command left them dangling out there in space. That kind of cast connection isn't found very often in 60s sci-fi nor is the unveiling of deeper plot details towards the end. The structure used is unique and contrasts well with the bland narrative fight scenes.

It's a must-read for any James White fan and maybe a peripheral interest to the sci-fi enthusiast. Otherwise, you may just be bored with the style and psycho-matters.