The third in Anne McCaffrey's Brainship series, and co-authored by Mercedes Lackey, this novel features Hypatia Cade, a bright young child who follows her parents as they travel throughout the galaxy. Their work as archaeologists takes them to isolated outposts, requiring Hypatia to become self-reliant, as she is left to her own devices for long periods.
On one dig, an investigation into a site that may be evidence of the mysterious EsKays, Hypatia is exposed to a virus, and becomes gravely ill. Hospitalised, her condition steadily worsens until she becomes almost completely paralysed. One night she breaks down, weeping and asking the universe WHY this has happened to her, grieving at the unfairness of it all, that she hasn't even had a chance to begin her life.
One of her doctors overhears her, and is also cut to the quick by the unfairness of Hypatia's situation. He himself is a paraplegic, and has some understanding of the future Hypatia faces. Knowing that Hypatias condition will never improve, he hatches a plot to have her accepted into the brainship program.
Brainships, or 'Brains' for short, are people who have been born with severe genetic defects, rendering their bodies useless, but leaving their minds and intellects intact. They are placed into cybernetic 'shells' and their growth is permanently stunted, to prevent the need for transfer into larger shells as their bodies grow. After a great deal of training, they take up positions in cities, and on board space stations and spaceships.
Hypatia is the oldest child ever to be accepted into the program. It had previously been thought that older children would not be able to cope psychologically with the transition into a shell.
Not only does Hypatia cope, she thrives, exiting her training with a determination that only assignment to a spaceship will be good enough for her. She achieves this goal, and then faces the prospect of selecting a 'brawn' the able-bodied partners of the brains, the pair acting together to run the ship.
Due to the overwhelming cost of the training and care of brains, each 'shellperson' begins their career with massive debt. But Hypatia has a plan, and eventually selects Alex as her brawn, a charming young man, who Hypatia feels will air her in her mission to both pay off the debt, and her desire to find the EsKay homeworld.
Hypatia and Alex become close friends, and Hypatia wonders if she is not falling in love with Alex, and untenable situation, as they can never have an intimate relationship.
One of her friends counsels her that there are many kinds of love. Filios, or brotherly love; Eros, or physical love; and Agape, or spiritual love. He tells Hypatia that there is nothing wrong with feeling love for Alex, but that she must be cautious, should her feelings turn toward Eros.
But there too, it seems that Hypatia is determined to have it all. She has earned a great deal of money, paying off her initial debt, and making many and varied investments. In one of those, a cybernetics company, Hypatia eventually purchases a controlling interest. This company specialises in making fully functional cybernetic prosthetics, of such high quality that they can even return the ability to dance to a ballerina who has lost a leg. Hypatia, after taking control of the company, sends them instructions through her legal proxy, that they are to embark on a special project for her.
In the meantime things between Hypatia and Alex have reached a crisis point, with Alex exposing his feelings for Hypatia.
He leaves the ship in port, and proceeds to get very, very drunk. Upon his return to the ship he is aghast to discover all in darkness, and that Hypatias toy bear - the same one she wept bitter tears into as she lay incapacitated in the hospital - is gone. He is sure that Hypatia has repudiated him, and that he has lost her forever.
However, upon entering is cabin, he discovers a young woman, with Hypatia's elfin looks and dark hair, cradling the missing bear in her arms. The cybernetics company has achieved the impossible, creating a remote cybernetic body that Hypatia can control as if it were her own. It is not merely a mechanical construct, but looks and feels real in every way.
In this way Hypatia and Alex can be together, and even more, Hypatia can transcend the limitations of her own physical existence and have a normal life. Moreover, it is a gift she can share with all the other shellpeople, should they choose to follow her example.
Publishing Details
- Mass Market Paperback
- Publisher: Orbit (1999)
- ISBN-10: 1857232054
- ISBN-13: 978-1857232059
Search Tags
the ship who searched
100 1 McCaffrey, Anne
245 1 4 The ship who searched|h[large print] /|cAnne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey.
260 Bath, Eng. :|bChivers Press,|c1996.
500 First published in 1992.
520 Accompanying her exo-archeologist parents on an EsKay dig, seven-year-old Tia becomes afflicted with a strange neural disorder that leaves her totally dependent on a mechanical life support system. In order to forge an independant life for herself, Tia becomes a shellperson and is installed in one of the celebrated brain ships.
650 0 Space ships|vFiction.
700 1 Lackey, Mercedes.
800 1 McCaffrey, Anne.|tShip series ;|v3.
910 SM
947 14 NOV 1996
Links
Wikipedia - The Ship Who Searched
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