Customer Reviews

The Infinitive of Go

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Testing their newly developed teleportation technology, Dr. Justin Cruz and his team discover that their test subjects are being shifted into parallel universes whose difference from the universe of origin increases in proportion to the distance the subject has been sent. Not a bad idea for a novel, but John Brunner fails to develop his theme adequately in this thin volume. Brunner's forte is really more toward the societal aspects of speculative fiction rather than technological extrapolation, yet he depends too much on almost mystical computers and technobabble regarding "transfinite numbers" to achieve his effect. The device of subtly different alternate universes could have been exploited in far more interesting ways.

Brunner has remained one of my favorite authors (this being #5 for the year #14 for ever) over the years as, through his novels, he presents flexibility for subject matter and uniqueness over those in the same genre of science fiction. He's hit on colonizing planets (Bedlam Planet), future-dystopia of earth (The Sheep Look Up, seeding planets (A Maze of Stars and a whole slew of other themes. In 1974, Brunner wrote about matter transmission as a mode of people transport in the very short novel Web of Everywhere. Brunner revisits this idea of The Infinitive of Go.

"The first practical matter transmitter was a success, or so everyone thought. In spite of paranoid security restrictions. Justin Williams and Cinnamon Wright, co-inventors of the device, counted on it to revolutionize civilization and gain them an honoured place in history.
But the first long-distance field test with a human being - a diplomatic courier carrying a vital message - somehow misfired when the courier killed himself on arrival at his destination.
To prove his faith in his invention - and to escape charges of sabotage - Justin had himself 'posted' thousands of miles. He came through unchanged. It was the world that was somehow different..."

The direction of the plot isn't too difficult to discern (one of two direction popped into my head within the first five pages - the first guess was correct!). So when things aren't so going so smoothly back in the lab because of the courier's explosion, Justin transmits himself to prove that he isn't a saboteur. When he returns to the lab via matter transmission, he finds his car is messy, there's a new restaurant he's never heard of... and some love he's never had before. In addition to this twist and revelation, there's an additional twist when an orbital astronaut transmits himself from space to earth... only he isn't himself anymore. This is when he plot becomes thicker, more pseudo-scientific with jargon thrown around. Take a minute to try and understand the infinities on top of the infinities and you'll find yourself pleased with Brunner's work.

But, it's not a perfect novel. The 154-page novel doesn't paint a worthwhile cast, as with most slim novels. The politicians are political, the military are militant, and the scientists are scientific. The addition of a female scientists is welcome... it's a bonus that she's an African-American scientist, but the way Brunner characterizes her borders on racist. Her name is Cinnamon but Brunner might as well had called her Sugar, Coco or even Chocolate. She's got an attitude, likes to mouth-off, ends sentences with "man" and "honey" and likes to wear tribal-print dresses. A few passages definitely had me raising an eyebrow.

One final gripe: Brunner overuses the phrase "of course" through this novel. I'm a stickler for word repetition and Brunner has never failed in this category until now. It's BRUNNER though, so all is forgiven. I've got eight more Brunner novels lining my shelves so it's only a matter of time before I pick another one up.

Brunner undeniably has Gender Issues; these are less on display here than in most of his other stuff that I've read. The action is fairly quick, the characters predictable but well done, and the ending is memorably open-ended.