Only Fools And No Space Horses [Review: Trading In Danger]

Trying to explain the appeal of 8-bit phenomenon Elite to non-players, I sometimes describe it as a little like Only Fools And Horses, set in a future where the single-handed wheelin' dealin' interstellar trader is king.

Trading In Danger, a really enjoyable novel and first in the Vatta's War series, describes a similar future that is more commercial than naval. You may be familiar with Elizabeth Moon's track record: I am pleased to report that while polo is mentioned in passing, she has reined in her hippophilia and written a space opera almost devoid of horses, repairing what is arguably the Serrano Legacy's mane failing.

Kylara is a Vatta heiress - a member of both the Vatta family and their space logistics company. She chose the military over the family business but has been kicked out before completing training. To escape the paparazzi but also, we suspect, as a family punishment, she is sent on what should be a boring trade run saddled with a worn-out starship and her aunt's extremely dodgy fruitcakes.

The plot moves forward at a fast canter. Kylara herself is made of the Right Stuff and packs a decent right hook - her dismissal does not reflect a lack of fighting spirit but her tendency to fall for a good sob story, a likeable but potentially fatal Achilles' heel. While I'm not sure she'd be a match for Honor Harrington or Bet Yeager at close range, I think she'd at least make them work for their victory.

What gives Kylara's dilemmas, and this book, the upper hand in a photo finish, is that Honor too often has the upper hand - surprise, experimental weapons or disguised warships, extra intelligence and sneaky telepathic cats. Especially the cats. Kylara has to face up to mercenaries and other threats in a trading ship with literally no weapons - outgunning them is never an option and she has to stay calm, use the resources she has and know when to wait and when to raise the whip.

Love at first flight?

I'm a sucker for a strong female character. Ellen Ripley. Honor Harrington. Ace. But Rimrunners (1989) by C.J.Cherryh features one of the hardest, and most substantial characters I've ever come across in sci-fi.

As the novel opens, Bet Yeager, a former starship engineer/marine is stranded on Thule, a Radiator Springs of a space station made irrelevant by the arrival of faster and longer-haul starships. She is homeless and living hand-to-mouth, refusing to become a stationer by taking what little work is available, instead risking everything to be in line for a job when the next starship arrives.

The next starship turns out to be not a scheduled merchanter but the "spook ship" Loki, on an unspecified priority mission. Yeager seizes the opportunity and takes a place on board but is very much out of the frying pan into the fire - she has to adjust to a brutal and unforgiving below-decks society very different from her past experience, and to choose her friends, allies and bedfellows carefully from crewmates who would see her as enemy if they knew of her past (she is a veteran of the events of Downbelow Station).

Cherryh sets the action almost entirely within the ship, and the focus is on the interpersonal relationships and conflicts between crewmembers. The crew are sexually disinhibited - believable given their lack of privacy or personal boundaries in general. They also have very little idea of their ship's current location at any time, although the novel is punctuated by warnings to brace yourself for rocket burns or take your meds for hyperspace transitions (life on board any C.J.Cherryh starship is frequently painful.) Bet is able to glean only a handful of clues about Loki's mission from the officers - these clues, together with Bet's spacer knowledge, prove crucial when the external situation heats up towards the end, and it is only then that Bet has the opportunity to prove to her crewmates and to herself that she has really switched allegiance.

I've not included a picture today however C.J.Cherryh has posted a sketch of Bet Yeager on her website.