Jack Commer leads a peace mission to the fascist Alpha Centaurian Empire, but his marriage to Planetary Engineer Amav Frankston unravels under the pressures of his new command. He loses his crew to Centaurian brainwashing, and he and Amav are sent to be tortured on a barren planet.
A series of inexplicable solar system disasters in the near future of the late 2020's, including exploding gas giants and asteroids hurled into the sun, forces a panicky acceleration of space technology, including the discovery of Star Drive which accidentally sparks a war between the remnants of Sol and the fascist, insane Alpha Centaurian Empire.
After the destruction of the Earth in 2033, humanity evacuated to Mars and fought against native Martian terrorists until Captain Jack Commer and his new bride, planetary engineer Amav Frankston, found a way to reach an understanding with them. Jack, just promoted to Supreme Commander of the United System Space Force, now leads a peace mission in his flagship Typhoon II to end the war with the Alpha Centaurians. But his marriage begins unraveling under the pressures of his new command and Amav's discomforting presence aboard his ship. After an engine explosion strands the Typhoon four months from its destination, the crew encounters a derelict spaceship. Its insolent, uncooperative human refugees proceed to brainwash most of the crew, including Dar, Emperor of the Martians, into worship of the Alpha Centaurian Emperor.
A month and a half later, all but three have been Converted: Jack and Amav, now estranged, and the emotionally damaged twelve year-old refugee Bobby. These three, along with recently Converted ship's engineer Phil Sperry, write their final, brutally honest diary entries just as the ship is captured by Centaurian stormtroopers and Jack and Amav are sent to be tortured on a barren planet.
Excerpt
“Hello there,” Phil replied. “I hope you three are feeling better.”
“Yes, quite, thank you,” Dar spoke aloud. “How are you?”
“Well, I just need to clear out this debris here, and make sure the Star Drive components are fully dismantled. Then I’ll look over the Augmented Nuke.” He smiled, realizing he hadn’t answered Dar’s question. “I’m fine. Maybe a little shook up by this.”
Dar nodded. “I can see.” Although the Martian Emperor tried to keep his next thought below the surface, Phil pulled it out anyway: It must have been shocking to see your friend Jack behaving that way.
Phil nodded. “Yeah, I guess it was.”
Dar shrugged in embarrassment. A Martian wouldn’t be ashamed to have his thoughts read by other Martians; more often than not they simply sat facing each other, exchanging data by telepathy, with a few ritual words spoken for aesthetic effect. All exchanged thoughts were fully understood by each. But a Martian was always surprised when a human being picked something out of his mind without the Martian being aware of it.
“Take it easy, Dar. The three of you were going through hell back there. I can see you’re glad the Star Drive stopped.”
“Yes, of course. I know it delays us, but if it had gone on even another five seconds, I don’t think I could have withstood it.” Dar spoke with his usual quiet nobility, but the images filling Phil’s mind nearly dropped him to the floor: flames burning out Dar’s central nervous system, accompanied by the graph of an exponential curve extending into infinity, mathematically documenting the progression of the pain.
“We had no idea it’d have that effect. I’ll recommend we don’t use the Drive until we get you safely back to Mars.”
“That would be nonsense. I appreciate your concern, but none of you can afford a twenty-one-year trip back to Sol at our present speed. If we can get the Drive fixed in Alpha Centauri, of course we’ll use it to come home.” He peered deeply into the demolished interior of the Resonance Chamber. “Of course, we Martians must be drugged unconscious before we do go back.”
“Maybe you’re right,” Phil said. “But I don’t relish causing you this discomfort.”
“Speaking of discomfort, I’d like to change out of this Elder’s Robe. The only reason I wore it was that I expected to be meeting senior Centaurian officials in a few minutes. But the Robe is intolerably tight.”
The history of that particular robe surged into Phil. The Emperor’s Robe first worn by the legendary K’Naaaar in the Great Polar War of Apocalypse. Stolen by the murderous Gluquffln in the Revolts of K’nyuuggh’kk, corresponding to the time of the building of the pyramids on Earth. Worn by Diuvwaln when he was assassinated during the Great Canal Controversy. Curiously, though no canals were ever built on Mars, despite the speculation generated by Earth scientists in the late 1800’s, at about that time the Martians were debating whether or not to build canals on their planet, and Diuvwaln was killed as a result of his support for them.
Then there was one final image: Dar removing the robe in the presence of his young bride, the Empress, on their wedding night. K’sla remained on Mars, awaiting Dar’s return.
As Phil shut down Star Drive subassemblies, Dar went on: “Of course I’m deeply concerned about the success of the mission. Jack’s correct that an unexpected delay on our part, especially a four-month delay, could trigger unpleasant consequences.”
Phil nodded. “Yeah, but there’s nothing we can do about it now. We confirmed during the Six-Minute Check that Station One has already sent out peace feelers, and that we have a plenipotentiary personage coming to negotiate peace. Which of course is Jack, only they don’t know that yet. I’m sure they’ll have a fit when they find out it’s the head of the USSF come to talk peace. Jack wants to start negotiating, then reveal he’s SCUSSF and that because of his recent appointment, the USSF is now for peace.”
“It could well succeed. The Centaurians know they’re gradually being worn down. And they’ll respect a strong negotiator, one from the armed forces.”
“I only hope Jack’s up for it.”
“Are you worried that because he’s under stress, he won’t be able to accomplish his task?”
“Uh, no, I didn’t say that,” Phil muttered. “What the hell, Dar? Are you learning to read my mind now? Of course that thought’s crossed my mind. Jack’s been driving himself and all the rest of us crazy the past few months. God knows where it’ll all end.”
“I only hope he can rise to the occasion. I’d hate to see him put Plan B into effect.”
“God, yes.” Plan B called for the black-holing of Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri, and the PlanetBlasting and Xon bombing of as many planets among the AC system’s other stars as possible. Recently upgraded USSF translation systems to the major Centaurian languages held some promise for real communication, but they were still primitive. A year ago they’d had virtually no translation software. There were so many possibilities for misunderstandings.
“And by the way, I cannot read your mind, youngster!” Dar laughed.
“I sure hope not!” Phil grinned. He flushed the rad particles from the Star Drive waste collection subsystem into deep space and then opened that compartment with his wrench. Odd to think that if he’d opened it five seconds before, he’d have instantly killed everyone on the ship. The inner metal was still hot to the touch.
He was definitely glad Dar and the other Martians couldn’t pry into his mind. Just how quickly would they figure out the curse of his lust for Amav? And then every other human on this ship would read Dar’s mind in turn. Everyone would know. God, even Amav would know. Or did she know already?
Professional Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Deep, Character Intensive, Fast-paced Sci-fi
By F. Taylor September 10, 2012
Book Two in the Jack Commer series begins with a promising if not challenging journey into the enemy territory of Alpha Centauri to end the war with the United System Space Force...or so Book One left us happily thinking.
All is not right with the crew of the Typhoon II. Space travel is getting to them, particularly Jack Commer, the newly appointed Supreme Commander of the USSF. He has issues, and many question whether he is qualified for his new title, let alone a mission to make peace with a hateful, fanatical empire. He questions himself. He has alienated his beautiful new wife Amav. The cracks are showing, driving everyone into isolated cesspools of personal angst, nasty little secrets and idiosyncrasies artfully reflected through diary entries and interactions with the Martian crew members, who are both fascinated and bemused by human behavior.
Things further deteriorate when they rescue a group of refugees who claim to have escaped Alpha Centauri clutches but are in fact being controlled by a hive mentality that forbids individuality, brainwashes its members into glassy-eyed submission, and punishes any digression from the self-proclaimed divine will of a megalomaniacal Emperor. A well-done and disturbing development happens when the crew begins to convert. This brings them down into the depths of human depravity and delusion, including the only three who have not succumbed: Jack, Amav, and a twelve-year-old refugee named Bobby whose mind has cracked.
When they are all captured by the Alpha Centaurians and sentenced to brutal torture and death, all seems lost. Here, this story triumphs through what I thought was not only an intense, visceral description of slimy aliens, messed up belief systems, and shocking threats but also a brilliantly executed series of plot twists that kept me turning the pages, none the wiser, until the end when love, cleverness, and fortitude save the day. With the help of some unexpected protagonists, Jack Commer once again shines through his opaque atmosphere of personal issues to become worthy of his stature. It's a great tale about the value of love and the universal need of living things to be conscious and free. I'll be looking forward to Book Three, Nonprofit Chronowar
Irreverent, Satiric, and Good Space Opera
By Toni V. Sweeney, January 21, 2015
In the second book in the Jack Commer series, as the title indicates, much to his sometimes dismay, Jack is now Supreme Commander of the USSF. He’s also newly-wed, and on his way to Alpha-Centauri for peace negotiations. It’s difficult enough being a surviving Commer brother. It’s even more difficult being newlywed. It’s a quadruple problem having your very intelligent bride on the same ship as you and one of your crewmembers lusting after her. It’s even worse when the Martians onboard can’t adjust to Star Drive and get violent and have to be sedated.
Jack has all five factors going against him.
When the Star Drive of the Typhoon II goes out and they’re having to use regular power to get them to their destination, the crew is bored and bickering, questioning themselves, each other, and their mission, until they discover an Alpha-Centaurian ship in distress. Aboard are a group of humans ostensibly escaping their massacred colony. Among them is a twelve-year-old who’s so catatonic he can only communicate through writing science fiction short stories set during Earth’s War Between the States. The adult members are, for all extents and purposes, converts to the Alpha-Centaurians, stating they are returning to Earth, not as refugees, but to convince everyone that the aliens are not the villains they appear, and Earth should surrender rather than negotiate peace.
Whatever the fugitives have seems to be contagious, for one by one, the crew members succumb to their rants, raves, and prayers, and defect…even the Martians and Joe. Alone in the Typhoon II with only his wife and the boy, Bobby, Jack wonders how long he can hold out. He begins to question everything he's ever thought or believed... and then another Alpha-Centaurian ship appears…and this one isn’t seeking peace or converts…it simply wants Earth’s destruction…
I think I liked this novel better than the first. It’s full of the irreverence, satire, and whirlpool thoughts of the first but even more so. Again, it’s another which really can’t easily be summarized…it has to be read so you can see for yourself.
There’s a cliffhanger, but I finished reading with the supreme confidence that Jack Commer, Supreme Commander, would prevail…as he always does…
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