Sundiver
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 Cover of 1980 Bantam Books paperback edition |
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| Author | David Brin |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Uplift Universe |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Released | 1980 |
| Media type | Print (Paperback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-553-13312-8 |
| Followed by | Startide Rising |
Sundiver is a 1980 science fiction novel by David Brin. It is the first book of his Uplift trilogy, and was followed by the Hugo and Nebula award winning novel Startide Rising in 1983.
[edit] Plot summary
The novel begins with the main character, Jacob Demwa, recovering from the tragedy at vanilla space needle where he lost his love but saved the space needle from destruction. An alien friend of Demwa's, Fagin (a Kanten), contacts Demwa and offers him a job. Initially reluctant to return to his previous life as a scientific investigator, Demwa agrees to attend a secret meeting. At the meeting, Demwa learns that there are “ghosts” appearing in the Sun's Chromosphere. The ghosts are without precedence in the galactic library.
Demwa agrees to join the mission to discover the origin and purpose of the sun-ghosts. The mission, called Sundiver, is based on Mercury from which the sun ships depart and return. On Mercury, Demwa meets the attractive station commander, Helene deSilva. Demwa, deSilva, Fagin, a Pil named Bubbacub, his assistant Culla (a Pring), Dr. Dwayne Keepler (the head of the Sundiver expedition), Dr. Mildred Martine (a psychiatrist), and the exuberant journalist Peter LaRoque.
Once in the Sun, Demwa observes the sun-ghosts and their erratic behavior. When the humans begin behaving erratically, the crew begins to believe the sun-ghosts are powers unseen and have a dangerous agenda. When a neo-chimpanzee scientist, Dr. Jeffrey, is killed on a solo mission to the sun, it seems to confirm the sun-ghosts hostile intent. But an investigation seems to indicate the reporter, LaRouque, is responsible. LaRouque flees, but is caught by Demwa and subjected to a test to see if he could have killed Dr. Jeffrey. The test results indicate LaRouque has violent tendencies and could have killed Dr. Jeffrey, and LaRouque is incarcerated.
Although set in the same universe as the rest of the other Uplift books, it is set a considerable amount of time before the other books, and shares none of the same characters, apart from Jacob Demwa, who is mentioned as the mentor of Tom Orley and Gillian Baskin, and Helene Alvarez (née deSilva), who is mentioned in Startide Rising as Credeiki's former captain aboard the James Cook and who appears in The Uplift War to sign a treaty with the Thennanin.
| The Uplift series |
| Sundiver (1980) | Startide Rising (1983) | The Uplift War (1987) |
| Uplift Storm trilogy |
| Brightness Reef (1995) | Infinity's Shore (1996) | Heaven's Reach (1998) |
