The Artifact
Peter Cawdron
307 pp, copyright 2023 Peter Cawdron
An archeologist from Britain (OK, Wales; I know there’s a world of difference between Bristol and Cardiff) has heard rumors of a strange object in a remote village in Libya, Harat Zuwayyah. This is in the deepest part of the Sahara. Doctor Susan Taylor, along with her bodyguard, O’Connor, an American, explore a cave that contains the mummified remains of ancient royalty. This in itself would be an exciting and significant discovery, but it is a red glow at the back of the cave where no artificial light could possibly be that turns their world upside down.
However, word of a female British archeologist, someone considered valuable as a potential ransom, has leaked out and caught the attention of the terrorist group Boko Haram. As Taylor and O’Connor emerge into daylight, they stage an attack. Taylor and O’Connor escape, but are left with a dilemma; how to get to a friendly port, find a ship headed for the UK or the US, and get their mysterious and possibly dangerous object through customs.
Cawdron, using his usual meticulous research, imbues what might be an otherwise standard desert chase story à la Indiana Jones, turning it into a riveting and intriguing story where you feel you are in the back seat of a rusty old Jeep in northern Africa, sitting next to an impossible artifact, racing to escape murderers and thieves.
Then it becomes another amazingly fresh first contact tale, provoking thought and demanding the reader ask questions, something Cawdron excels at. O’Connor has a shining moment when scientists are (rightfully) skeptical of his credentials, and challenge him with a long and complex formula. He evades the trap while simultaneously showing the difference between math and opinion. In the former, you have to show your work, and it all breaks down to four simple arithmetic functions.
The epilogue is absolutely bone-chilling and you may never look at the stars the same way again. Cawdron manages to surpass David Brin’s worst nightmares.
Along the way, Cawdron offers a fascinating glimpse into the largely untouched lives of the Bedouin nomads, and an interesting take on the politics and power plays that are common in academia. There’s even a cute story about an ourang-outang hitchhiker in the sequelae.
In the wake of “The Art of War” and “Ghosts” Cawdron continues to write at the very top levels of what science fiction ought to be.
Comments
Another Cawdron book that will have to go on the TBR pile, which seems to be getting bigger despite the fact that I’ve read so far 62’ish books this year.
It’s a good problem to have. I remember thinking about 12 years ago that there wasn’t enough new books coming out dealing with topics I want to read about.