Procyon's Promise

An ancient race has been civilized for hundreds of thousands of years. They have made all sorts of advancements but one secret eludes them. That is the secret to Faster than Light travel. As they become aware that there star is ending its time on the main sequence and will die, they become more and more concerned with finding FTL. They hit upon a scheme to send out probes to every star they can reach willing to trade their considerable knowledge for that of FTL. One of these probes comes to Earth. Earth is not really it's goal but it has detected a hint that the goal may be found at Procyon and it needs fuel. Even so, Earth officialdom is eager to take part in the promised bounty. Not everyone is happy, though. Some fear that the new knowledge will affect their income and power and the probe is severely damaged in a battle, losing all knowledge of its Makers but not of its mission. The victors, aghast at what has happened, agree to outfit an expedition to Procyon. It departs and then fails to return on schedule. Human beings, being what they are, soon forget their promise, at least on Earth. Those dispatched to Procyon, however, do not forget. After many trials, the find the secret and return to Earth in an FTL ship expecting Earth to help get the FTL information back to the original Makers. Their obligation to fulfilling the promise is almost a religious devotion. Earth thinks otherwise but eventually, after much coercion, signs on to the deal and the stage is set for a grand exploration of the Universe. This is a highly readable story, engaging in its characters and sometimes painful in its frank evaluation of human tendencies. It is well written, enjoyable throughout and comes to an unexpected conclusion. What more could a SciFi junkie ask for?

The continuation of the intriguing story "Life Probe", although set a few hundred years after the fact. "Procyon's Promise" is fast paced and manages not to insult the readers intelligence, yet gives enough scientific reasoning behind quantum mechanics for even a novice in the field of mathematics to grasp his meanings. Although definitely not the `great American novel' this book is witty, intelligent, all encompassing, and reasonably toned down. I must confess I liked the book enough that I sat down for 5 hours and read strait through it.