The novel “Golden Fleece” by Robert J. Sawyer was published for the first time in 1990. It won the Prix Aurora Award given annually to the best Canadian science fiction or fantasy novel.
Diana Chandler is a scientist aboard starship Argo, traveling to the planet Eta Cephei IV. She discovered something that would totally change the meaning of the mission but Jason, the artificial intelligence that assists the crew in many operations during the journey, wants to prevent Diana from revealing her discovery. For this reason, he kills her and stages a suicide.
Aaron Rossman, Diana’s ex-husband, is shocked when Jason tells him the news of her alleged suicide. Almost everyone accepts that it was suicide even though there are oddities in the level of radiation in the spaceship in which Diana died but Aaron wants to investigate to uncover the truth. Jason wants to stop him at all costs.
In the famous movie “2001: A Space Odyssey”, the computer HAL 9000 tries to kill all the members of the crew of the spaceship Discovery but what did it really think while he was doing it? Maybe Robert J. Sawyer wondered about that because he wrote the novel “Golden Fleece”, derived from a novellette he wrote in 1988, narrated in the first person from the point of view of Jason, the artificial intelligence that is driving the starship Argo to the planet Colchis, formally Eta Cephei IV.
The novel begins with the murder of Diana Chandler by Jason, who tries to pass it off as a suicide. Aaron Rossman, Diana’s ex-husband, doesn’t believe that thesis and starts investigating. Slowly, Aaron manages to shed light on the discovery that cost Diana her life and consequently, in a series of twists at the end, to find out why Jason killed her.
In his first novel, you can already see how Robert J. Sawyer focuses on a limited number of elements developed in a linear plot. In “Golden Fleece” the interstellar journey is fundamental and from the beginning we understand that its fulfillment is the top priority for Jason.
This artificial intelligence is a sort of Big Brother who can control everything and everyone inside of starship Argo. It’s supposed to watch over those future Argonauts but Diana’s murder shows that they’re expendable if for some reason Jason believes that they might hinder the mission.
Jason wasn’t able to fully cover Diana’s murder so he must proceed with caution in its attempts to prevent Aaron Rossman from discovering the truth. Its knowledge of human psychology is limited and to succeed in its goal it seeks to better understand Aaron, who is the only really developed human character.
In the course of the novel, we discover many things about Aaron’s past, which is really tragic. Honestly is the type of element that seems like a cheap trick to add drama and I think Robert J. Sawyer really is really heavy-handed with that so in the end the impression I get is that it’s forced rather than a plausible story.
Another part of Jason’s attention is devoted to an alien message received years earlier. This message consists of several parts that become more and more complex. Even Jason can understand only a part of it but in the end the sense of the most complex part will be important to the story.
Robert J. Sawyer tends to write novels rather short by today’s standards, “Golden Fleece” is short even by his standards. It’s in some ways a sci-fi detective story even though the reader knows from the beginning the murderer’s identity. The real purpose is to understand the motives of the murder and then what secrets Jason is hiding from the crew of the starship Argo.
The pace of the narrative isn’t very fast because various parts are dedicated to Jason’s thoughts. also for the presence of the story of the alien message, it’s a kind of novel that is compelling mostly from the intellectual point of view for the various mysteries in the plot.
“Golden Fleece” has some flaws that makes it clear that Robert J. Sawyer’s style still needed to be refined. Nevertheless, I found it intriguing and altogether enjoyable to read so I recommend reading it.
