The Ship Who Searched (The Ship Series)

The Ship Who Searched (1992) is the third SF novel in the Brainships series, following PartnerShip. In the previous volume, Nancia was closely involved in the investigation and arrest of the Nyota Five. After the trial and disposition, Forister praised her for her judgment in the recorded statements she made for the trial. In this novel, Hypatia Cade is the daughter of an archaeological team. Doctors Pota Andropolous-Cade and Braddon Maartens-Cade are conducting an Evaluation dig at a Salomon-Kildare site. The three of them are alone on the planet except during the supply ship visits. Tia is alone in the camp during the day, except at mealtimes. She spends most of the day doing homework, watching holos and monitoring communications. Shortly after her seventh birthday, Moira -- TM-370 -- is an unexpected visitor. Moira has diverted a routine run to bring their supplies and a birthday present for Tia. Moira and her Brawn Tomas are very welcome visitors. Tia has known Moira for some time and they get along very well. And then there is the birthday present, a blue teddy bear. Tia is extremely pleased with the gift. Tia is not particularly lonely on the remote site. After all, she spends more time with her parents than most children. She even gets to help at the main dig when her parents aren't doing very sensitive activities. Since the planet has little atmosphere, she has to wear a vacuum suit at the site. On days when her parents are too busy for her to visit, her parents let Tia don her vacuum suit and go play in her own dig. She carefully excavates pretend artifacts from the trenches. Then she digs up something that is a very real artifact. She carefully seals it in a plastic container and brings it into the habitat to show her parents. Unfortunately, the container leaks and she gets a face full of dust. However, her parents are excited over the find and spend the next couple of weeks excavating the alien waste dump. Tia catches some kind of disease from her first find and feels tingling in her feet and hands. Eventually, she loses sensation in all her extremities and is paralyzed from the neck down. Even her face is partially paralyzed. In this story, Tia becomes a shellperson. She is the oldest person ever admitted into the program. She does very well and eventually is installed in her brainship. Hypatia -- XH-1033 -- is now working for the Institute, delivering supplies to various archaeological sites. First she has to select a Brawn. None of the first six are suitable and the second six are not much better. Her supervisor is perturbed and wants her off the tarmac as soon as possible. Alexander Joli-Chanteu is one of the last set. Tia spends more time with him than the others, but finally decides that he is not quite the right person to be her Brawn. But then he comes back after dark and has a more candid conversation with Tia. Although she still sees some flaws in his character, Alex does have the right so

'The Ship Who Searched' presents to the reader a flawless collaboration of eminent authors Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey. Who joined their respective forces to write an excellent novel, which is characterized by very strong characters, a convincing, interesting sometimes deeply poignant story. Set in Ms. McCaffrey's universe of Brain and Brawn ships, the novel's premise is based on this: Hypatia Cade the highly precocious daughter of an archaeologist couple is bitten by a bug. This leaves Hypatia or Tia for short paralyzed and in dire straits indeed. An option for Tia might be the Shell person's program. Thus Tia goes on to train for the B & B ship program. After graduation she takes her chances with brawn Alexander Joli-Chanteau. Tia and Alex are both excellently and eminently convincingly drawn characters, and I loved them from the very beginning. Tia highly intelligent, precocious and flexible [but not in a cloying way] is one of Anne McCaffrey's most interesting and appealing heroines. Strong and indomitable she's the driving force of her story. With Tia Anne McCaffrey presents strength, heartbreak and humour all combined in one package. Tia's scenes in the hospital are nothing but brilliant and heart wrenching, and certainly brought tears to my eyes. The sympathetic and quirky Alex is very well matched with this great heroine. Strong supporting characters are to be found here as well like Tia's friend Moira or Dr. Kenneth. Further should be mentioned Tia's indispensable companion on all her journeys through life the blue teddy bear: Theodore Edward Bear. This is an utterly convincing universe with wonderful characters and a deeply satisfying story which I recommend very highly! by stardustraven

...because i'm the person Tia was based on. But it's a lively, excellent sequel to -The Ship Who Sang-, which literally changed my life. The characters are well-rounded, the "Brawn Fascination" is well-described and -thought out. There are sly references to other fans in the story, but it's a stirring tale even if you dive in ignorant of everything but the characters and their adventures. From the introduction of Tia through her changes -- as she slowly succumbs to an alien disease while trying to conceal her illness from her busy parents, then begs to be admitted into the Brain Corps -- is strong stuff. But Tia triumphs in every way, and Ted E. Bear helps as best he can [of *course* he succeeds; have you ever known a teddy bear who didn't?].

As far as I'm concerned, Anne McCaffrey's heroines are the best in current fiction. From Restoree to Pern to the BB quasi-series, her heroines are intelligent, caring, and, yes, dangerous in one fashion or another. Tia may be her best. Stricken in childhood by a terrible nerve disease, Tia is on life support and deprived of human touch for life. Rather than be institutionalized, she chooses to become a Brainship. The hospital scene is everything you've heard. Get a hanky. Get two.She is tormented both by her inability to touch anyone, since she grew up in a loving family (not selected at birth like the other Brains) and the need to find the source of the virus that got her. Acquiring an unorthodox "brawn", off she goes on her career as a courier, with an unannounced agenda of her own. The book is episodic, but leads to a very nice conclusion that my wife predicted but I didn't. Oh, yes, the "bear" is Theodore Edward Bear, a childhood keepsake who is the center of a charming but strange "marriage" ritual.If you read only one BB book, make it this one.

In my entire life, I can count the number of books that have moved me to tears one the fingers of one hand. Those include luminaries such as Guy Gavriel Kay for his Lions of Al-Rassan and Fionavar Tapestry as well as Melanie Rawn for Skybowl. However, none of them had quite the impact of Hypatia's story. I am not ashamed to say that by the end of the first seventy three pages, I was in tears. The scenes, especially those in the hospital with her teddy bear were just so well written that I had to put down the book and wipe away the tears blurring my vision before I could continue. The sheer emotional impact of those scenes were so moving upon me.While I could have wished that the initial stages, especially those dealing with how Tia deals with the illness were a little more developed, this book is still certifiably Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey's best work to date.