The novel “Manseed” by Jack Williamson was published for the first time in 1982.
The Defender wakes up confused and doesn’t even recognize his own body, which looks quite human but without genitals. He has various memories of different people that don’t help him understand what’s happening to him and around him. He hears a voice that seems familiar to him since it belongs to Megan Drake but it quickly becomes clear that it’s a reproduction.
The voice that communicates with the Defender is that of a spaceship that was damaged by a meteorite. The Defender must assess the damage and try to repair it in order to resume the mission of finding a habitable planet where humans based on samples chosen on Earth many millennia earlier can be born and grow up.
Jack Williamson was above all a great master of space opera. He wrote great adventures in space, even on a large cosmic scale. “Manseed” starts from the idea of colonizing other planets not using big spaceships to transport the colonists but small spaceships that carry the information needed to grow humans and animals on planets where conditions are suitable.
The story follows the point of view of the Defender, built and activated by one of the spaceships sent into space to repair the damage caused by a meteorite. The Defender is a cyborg, partly organic and partly machine, and possesses the memories of various human beings who made crucial contributions to the project.
The tale of the Defender’s work to enable the continuation of the mission intersects with his memories. They offer the reader the opportunity to understand the origins of that project by telling piece by piece about Megan Drake’s work, her motivations, and the work carried out together with the various men selected to develop the project.
My problem with the story of the project is that what is a science and technology enterprise sometimes feels more like a soap opera. That’s because it appears that all the men selected to provide memories to the Defender were in love with Megan Drake. Both the flashbacks set on Earth and the Defender’s story are influenced by this sentimental element because, for the cyborg, every occasion seems good to think about the woman. This element becomes even more pronounced when the Defender is no longer alone. Readers who don’t appreciate such a heavy sentimental component developed in that way may find it annoying.
However, the main part of the plot is the story of a great colonization project. The scale is remarkable given that spaceships launched into space can travel for many millennia and many light-years before finding a planet with characteristics suitable for attempting the development of human colonists.
The Defender’s story is the story of the many problems that can arise during a mission so complex and full of potential unforeseen events. The memories of the various men selected by Megan Drake are meant to help him and the settlers deal with those unexpected. However, the situations they encounter can be really difficult and the cyborg has limits that emerge in the course of the novel. In my opinion, from this point of view, Jack Williamson shows his imagination in creating great science fiction stories.
Despite my reservations about the sentimental element, I consider “Manseed” a very good science fiction novel for the great story of a mission in time and space that goes against all odds and against all adversities. If the romance doesn’t bother you, I recommend reading it.
