The Gates of Eden

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Before the hyper-space vessels could go from planet to planet, stations had to be set up. And that meant manned spaceships cut off from Earth for decades. The explorer vessel Ariadne had gone toward galactic center and was considered lost - until its call was heard appealing for a xeno-biologist.

Their new world was all swamp. As far as could be seen there was no intelligent species. Yet this was alarming because all inhabitable planets so far discovered had thinking inhabitants.

But the nature of that planet's "people" turned out to be an enigma that had to be solved. For the alien biology there could spell doom to all the civilizations of the stars... doom or a terrible unity!

A brilliant adventure novel of scientific conjecture written by the scientist author of Journey to the Center and other innovative sf novels.

Cover art by Douglas Chaffee

Published in 1983 by DAW.
ISBN:0-87997-801-5

Dedicated to Barry Bayley

Lee Caretta's problem wasn't so much the nightmares and the blackouts - he was used to them - but keeping them secret from his bosses. If they ever found out, they'd send him back to Earth. Which was the last place in the universe someone with his skills would like to be.

It is an unfortunate fact that good job for a xenobiologist are limited.

But then the starship Ariadne, in transit for 350 years, found an Earthlike world which looked like it might be the answer to everyone's dreams. Until the explorers sent out to investigate it began to die.

Something for Lee to work - on personal problems permitting - knowing that if he failed to come up with the reason why, all Hell would break loose on a galactic scale.

Published in 1990 by New English Library.
ISBN:0-450-53203-8

Translated into French as: Les Portes de l'Eden.
Translated into German as: Die Tore von Eden.

Review by Ian Braidwood

Cast of characters:
Zeno, Cpt Morten Jukasz, Schumann, Leander Caretta, Angelina Hesse, Jason Harnell, Vesenkov, Cpt Catherine d'Orsay.

Lee Caretta suffers blackouts and is afraid that if his secret is discovered, he will be sent home to Earth - not the best place for a xenobiologist to make his name. However, his fears are sidelined when he is packed off to Naxos, a new planet discovered by the crew of the Ariadne.

Naxos appears to be ripe for colonisation: it has a temperate climate, plenty of water and abundant life. The thing is, if it's so perfect; how come the entire scientific team sent to survey it is dead? The Gates of Eden is basically a biological detective story. There is a murder and there is a method, but the mystery isn't so much who did it, as what the hell is the underlying cause?

There are lots of things I don't like about this one: The premise I find implausible, when we do find extraterrestrial life, I doubt very much that its chemistry will be anything like compatible with ours. I don't like the way Brian has used rape as a plot device, it seems trite and faintly distasteful.

The Gates of Eden could well have been Daedalus mission seven. It is pitched at exactly the same level and I even managed to confuse sections of this book with The Florians, so that I kept expecting Alexis Alexander to spot amphibious aliens watching him in his travels.

Overall, if you were satisfied with the Daedalus books and assuming you don't share my misgivings, there's no reason you'll dislike this. However, I don't think Brian should have recapitulated that formula; instead, he should have tried something new.

The Brian Stableford Website