A Science Fiction mystery trilogy by Peter F. Hamilton written in The '90s.
Novels
- Mindstar Rising (1993)
- A Quantum Murder (1994)
- The Nano Flower (1995)
Tropes:
In General
- Arbitrarily Large Bank Account:
- In Mindstar Rising, trillionaire heiress Julia Evans gets the bank records of someone who's plotting against her company by buying the entire bank. She points out that it's actually a good investment.
- In The Nano Flower, Julia Evans gives Greg Mandel access to a sixty-five million pound expense account while he's investigating whether Evan's missing husband has discovered alien life, given the vast economic implications of First Contact. Mandel reflects that if his mercenary partner Suzi got her hands on that money, even though they are Fire-Forged Friends it would be a goodbye that would last beyond the end of the world.
- Black Market: The novels are set in an Alternate History Britain recovering from a left-wing dictatorship. Philip Evans, the CEO of Event Horizon, describes how he had consumer goods built in cyber-factories outside Britain's territorial waters, which were then smuggled in by stealth aircraft and distributed via an army of spivs to undermine the socialist economy. He says the biggest problem was the goods were paid for by bartering fruit or fish, which then had to be exchanged for gold, silver, or diamonds which were then smuggled out of the country.
- Black Market Produce: The communist government ruling an alternate history Britain is undermined by having computers and other electronic goods flown in by stealth aircraft and distributed by an army of spivs. The local versions made in state-controlled companies simply can't compete and thus are only used by government offices.
- Brain Uploading: Philip Evans, the aging CEO of Event Horizon, has grand visions for the future but is dying with only his teenage granddaughter to carry on the torch, so he uploads his brain into a neural network bioware core. It also works as an Upgrade Artifact, enabling him to run a MegaCorp with the singular direction of a family corporation.
- Black Shirt: The novels are set in a Britain recovering from a Communist dictatorship. Ironically the Blackshirts are extreme left-wing (formerly the Peoples Constables, a militia force used by the government to brutally maintain order) while the Trinities were La Résistance, who copied their tactics of violent political agitation. Both sides still exist as street gangs under the New Conservative government, with the Trinities secretly encouraged to eliminate the Blackshirts who are working with The Remnant to take back power.
- Bodyguard Crush: Teenage heiress Julia Evans regards her chief of security as a Parental Substitute (Greg realises the reverse is also true). In the final novel set years later, Julia's next chief of security thinks he's an Ignored Enamored Underling, but she ends up taking him as her lover after losing her husband.
- Bulletproof Vest: A Future Spandex dissipater suit is used as a defense against Energy Weapons, transferring heat away from the body (including body heat, which makes the wearer feel rather cold). It doesn't work against bullets or shrapnel though, so for hardliner tekmerc jobs muscle-armour suits are used.
- City on the Water: Listoel is a flotilla of former oil tankers and ore carriers converted into cyber-factory ships powered by thermal-exchange generators, operating outside Britain's territorial waters to create consumer goods to be smuggled into a Communist-controlled Britain. Now that the government has fallen most of the cyber-factory ships are docked in British harbours prior to being transferred onshore, but Event Horizon keeps Listoel going to supply energy to Britain and as a base for their more hardline operations.
- Derelict Graveyard: The protagonist mentions a field of armored vehicles at the former Imperial War Museum at Duxford, decommissioned by the extreme left-wing government that's been (until recently) running Britain. They were supposed to be dismantled for raw materials, but due to government inefficiency this never happened and they had been left to rust and pollute the ground with leaking fuel and hydraulic fluid.
- Future Spandex: The combat suits used to radiate heat from Energy Weapons away from the wearer look like a diving suit.
- Global Warming: The novels are set in a sweltering tropical Britain. However the worst of the crisis—including flooding, refugees, a Credit Crash, and an extreme left-wing dictatorship—has passed and people are now used to the conditions, expressing bemusement at the idea of snow.
- Hacker Collective: Greg makes use of a hotrod network called Gracious Services. You dial a number and are connected with a broker who assigns several hackers to compete as to who can get your information fastest; the broker then pays the winner.
- I Can't Believe a Guy Like You Would Notice Me:
- Heiress Julia Evans is convinced she's unattractive because she spent most of her teenage years in the company of her absolutely gorgeous best friend Kat. When she finally succeeds in getting the handsome doctor (Kat's former boyfriend) that she'd been pining over, he says the line — an indication that a
not-unattractive teenager who's just inherited a multi-billion dollar MegaCorp is a lot more desirable than she thinks. - It turns out that Ian really does like Amy, and can't believe that a guy like him would like a girl like her, either.
- Heiress Julia Evans is convinced she's unattractive because she spent most of her teenage years in the company of her absolutely gorgeous best friend Kat. When she finally succeeds in getting the handsome doctor (Kat's former boyfriend) that she'd been pining over, he says the line — an indication that a
- Latex Space Suit: The protagonist is measured by laser for a custom-fitted spacesuit in Mindstar Rising. He's relieved in the final novel (set over a decade later) to find that a less form-fitting outfit is now used, given that he no longer has his Heroic Build.
- Lonely Rich Kid: Julia Evans inherits Event Horizon while still a teenager. Her Upgrade Artifact only increases her sense of isolation from her peers, though by the second novel she doesn't have any qualms about playing up this trope to gain the attention of handsome potential boyfriends. She eventually marries master hacker Royan, the only person she identifies with, only to find that as her power, wealth, and reputation grows, he also drifts away from her, regarding himself as a "prince consort" rather than an equal.
- My Card: The card presented by the protagonist is actually given to him by the MegaCorp that's hired him—you scan it with a cybofax and get a reading on what authorisation the holder has. Event Horizon staff usually have an Oh, Crap! reaction on seeing that Greg is working directly for their CEO.
- N.G.O. Superpower: Not only does Event Horizon have hardliner security forces with Powered Armor and hypersonic aircraft to deploy them anywhere in the world, but by the third novel their CEO Julia Evans has hacked the top secret design of electron-compression warheads. Fortunately she just wants to use them for asteroid mining, but people are understandably nervous when she blasts an asteroid into Earth orbit to mine it.
- Police Psychic: The titular protagonist is a former British Army psychic whose skillset involves Gut Feeling and Living Lie Detector. He works as a private investigator for Julia Evans, CEO of Event Horizon. The second novel A Quantum Murder is the only time he works directly with the police, but even they know that Event Horizon is calling the shots.
- Zeppelins from Another World: Airships are being used in a global-warming world, but it's mentioned that they are only a viable technology after the development of superstrength monolattice composites built in orbital microgravity factories.
- Space Plane: Event Horizon is investing heavily in the space industry as part of the post-Warming economic resurgence. This gives Event Horizon a monopoly on the disposal of radioactive waste for a time, and at the rollout of the first Clarke-model spaceplane their CEO dodges the question of how the factories for making the spaceplane have been built in marginal political constituencies in exchange for the government contract.
Mindstar Rising
- Angry Guard Dog: In the Action Prologue, Greg Mandel has to take out an ex-police Rotweiller with monolattice silicon fangs and implanted retinas. This is nothing to the security at the Big Fancy House where Julia Evans lives, which is guarded by genetically enhanced panthers!
- Bodyguard Betrayal: The Mole working for the Big Bad turns out to be one of Julia Evans' own bodyguards. They belatedly realise he's been off sick on the days that the psychic hired by Julia to check her security is on duty.
- Breaking the Bonds: Greg Mandell and a fellow prisoner free themselves by using their neural implants to cut off their pain receptors, then stomping on a wrist to shatter the bones so they can slip free. Even without pain, it's as squicky to them as it sounds.
- Conveniently Placed Sharp Thing: The Protagonist and his fellow captive stomp their hands to crush the bones so they can pull them through the handcuffs. Even though he can create neurohormones to dull the pain, it still severely squicks them both.
- Everyone Knows Morse: The Trinities have to enter the mansion of Julia Evans after a hacker attack has shut down all communications, causing the security system to go into Lock Down. To try and convince the security hardliners inside that they're friendly, they send a Morse code message by laser, knowing their chief of security is ex-military. He communicates back via loudhailer.
- Foreseeing My Death: Psychic soldier Greg Mandel recruits a fellow Mindstar Brigade veteran who can see the future, and notes how this trope has turned what was once an efficient officer to a prematurely aged spinster. It's not that she has seen her death, but the constant fear of doing so if she looks too far into the future.
- Hands-On Approach: Teenage heiress Julia Evans sets this up deliberately by hiring a handsome swimming champion to coach her, despite the fact that she can swim perfectly well.
- Interrogation by Vandalism: Greg Mandel breaks into the residence of a hacker, knocking out the guard on the door and confiscating his high-powered stun gun. He then uses the gun to fry the hacker's expensive computer equipment to encourage him to talk faster.
- Left Your Lifesaver Behind: After completing a successful mission, Greg Mandel is ambushed on the way home. He grabs for his Armscor stun gun only to find it's missing and he realises he has no idea where he left it. Ironically it turns out the gun was stolen from him by his employer Julia Evans who was (incorrectly) worried Greg had changed sides, and she later uses it to save her life from The Mole who has sold her out.
- Life-or-Limb Decision: The main character and his friend mangle each other's hands so that they can slip them through handcuffs; describing the whole sequence of events, in squicky detail, takes several pages. The hero can use his neural implants to minimize the pain, but not his friend.
- Panthera Awesome: The Big Fancy House where Julia Evans lives is guarded by gene-tailored sentinel panthers. When the house security system goes into Lock Down, the protagonists have to fight their way past them.
- Ready for Lovemaking: The heroes burst into the villain's lair to rescue a Damsel in Distress, only to find she's been brainwashed with drugs and is lying naked in bed, saying she's ready to begin. Everyone starts sniggering...until she realises they haven't come for an orgy and attacks them in a Berserker Rage.
- Save Sat: Julia Evans uses her authority to stop Event Horizon's satellite from gaining higher orbit, as she's planning to drop it on the personal yacht of a Corrupt Corporate Executive she has a grudge against. It ends up being dropped on the former communist dictator of Great Britain, when the two turn out to be involved in a conspiracy.
- Sunken City: The Climax takes place in an English village that has long since sunken into a quagmire when polar melt flooded the Fenlands. The former dictator of Britain has his hideout there, as the area is useless for fishing or agriculture and so no-one goes there.
- Swiss Bank Account: Teenage heiress Julia Evans gets the bank records of someone who's plotting against her company by buying the entire bank! She points out that it's actually a good investment.
- Turbine Blender: Greg Mandel is being pursued by mooks in a hovercraft, so he throws a metal pole into the fan, causing it to tear loose and shred the occupants.
- Wonder Twin Powers: The psi-boosted protagonist and his pre-cognitive partner are successfully ambushed when twin psychics are used to create a null zone where their powers won't work.
- You Have No Idea Who You're Dealing With: Greg Mandel breaks into the residence of a Knowledge Broker who coordinated a hacker attack on Event Horizon, who responds this way. Greg just grins and points out that's exactly why they've turned up—to find out who The Man Behind the Man is. Shortly after someone fires an Energy Weapon through the window to make sure the broker doesn't reveal this information.
A Quantum Murder
- Chronoscope: The victim is a scientist who was working on neurohormones that could be used to see through time, so the investigators use a sample he's left behind to do so. They see him being killed by one of his own students who has gone insane, but it's later revealed that the murderer was brainwashed to do so by the real culprit, who was worried that the neurohormone could be used to see a murder he had committed eleven years previously. Alarmed by the implications of looking back in time, Julia Evans, the idealistic but powerful CEO of Event Horizon, arranges for the destruction of the neurohormone and all records and gives a generous job offer (of the accept-or-else kind) to the student so she can keep an eye on him.
- Grandfather Paradox: Discussed. The conclusion is you can due to the existence of parallel realities. In short, you're conceived in one universe, then go back in time and kill your grandfather in another universe.
- Neural Implanting: The eponymous murder is committed by the villain uploading via laser the personality of a serial killer into someone's mind, using technology recently developed. After the culprit suffers literal Laser-Guided Karma, the British government worries they'll be accused of developing a Mind-Control Device and destroy all records of the technology.
- Waving Signs Around: Julia Evans sees a rent-a-crowd of students who've been bussed out to her rollout of Britain's first Space Plane, and asks where they get the money for transport and attendance fees. Her chief of security says only, "We're looking into it." She regards one sign saying Julia already owns the Earth, don't let her own the stars as well as Actually Pretty Funny.
- The World Is Not Ready: The crime is committed via a laser mind-programming device (originally developed as a learning tool) and solved through a neurohormone that enables someone to look back in time. Alarmed by the implications of both devices, Julia Evans, the idealistic but powerful CEO of Event Horizon, arranges for the destruction of all records and gives a generous job offer (of the accept-or-else kind) to the scientist who witnessed these events so she can keep an eye on him.
The Nano Flower
- Asteroid Miners: Event Horizon has stolen the design for electron-compression warheads and used them to blast an asteroid into Earth's orbit and mine it. The caverns get turned into a space station called New London and the climax of the novel takes place there.
- Is That a Threat?: Victor Tyo, chief of the security division of Event Horizon goes to talk to the head of their SETI project and starts the conversation by reminding him of his confidentiality agreement."I'm not interested in restricting the flow of ideas, I simply ask that our conversation is not bandied about."
"Otherwise I'm for the chop."
Victor sat back in the chair and gave Rick Parnell a searching look. "Tekmercs make threats, Mr. Director. I work on the other side of the fence. We try and ensure that a dedicated researcher's life's work isn't stolen from under their nose, that the pension fund you've paid into for forty years doesn't get emptied by some hotrod with a smart decryption program. Now, you and I are employed by the same lady, and she suggested I ask your professional advice on a matter I'm involved with. Is that really so hard for you?" - Not of This Earth: The eponymous flower is delivered by a High-Class Call Girl to Julia Evan's personal assistant. The flower is from Julia's husband who's been missing for some time; it doesn't appear in any botanical database and has DNA coding that's thousands of years in advance of anything on Earth.
- Orbital Bombardment: The Kinetic-Energy Harpoon (although not used on-page) is described as a "poor man's nuke"note , they were apparently used in the Slamdown War. That resulted in a massive campaign to get a defensive system in orbit, designed specifically to stop them from ever being used again.
- Solar Sail: Nearing the end, rather than destroy or be destroyed by humanity, the alien organism leaves to find an uninhabited solar system, by shapeshifting into a solar sail 500 kilometers in diameter.
- Stealth in Space: A scientist in a 20 Minutes into the Future world is asked whether an alien could have made First Contact with humanity yet. He responds that there's no possible way an alien vessel could have arrived in the solar system without being detected. As it turns out, the alien actually evolved within the solar system.
- We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: Julia Evan's husband Royan discovers some alien microbes and decides to experiment with them. Unfortunately, they gain sentience and try to assimilate Royan when he tries to terminate the experiment, but end in a Mexican Standoff as Royan is partly-absorbed but could still detonate the gamma mines he's set up if the alien tries to complete the process. They agree each will send one message to the outside world; one to Julia Evans and the other to a Corrupt Corporate Executive, with both of them pitching the argument for the alien's survival vs. destruction to whoever turns up.
