An interplanetary thriller

 kw: book reviews, science fiction, space fiction, moon, mars, mysteries

The Oxygen Farmer by Colin Holmes is an upgrade from the Space Opera subgenre of science fiction. It is set in space, mostly on or near the Moon, and there is plenty of opera, of the dysfunctional-family kind. The novel is a thrilling mystery that I can't say much about without being a spoiler. I'll confine myself to some of the ideas that interested me. 

This image is the fruit of a long negotiation with LeonardoAI. It's intended to evoke generic "space opera".

The setting is in late 2077, plus about a year; things happen fast in scifi spacetime. The first time I saw children using cell phones (flip phones in the late 1990's) I remarked, "Give it another generation or so, and they'll install a phone in the bone behind the ear of everyone, that is biologically powered and voice activated." The year 2077 is closer to two generations future, and everyone wears a "wristy", a souped up smart watch. It is used for "everything", the way smart phones/watches are used today in China and much of Europe…the US has some catching up to do. If you ask Ray Kurzweil, he would say that such a device will be long out of date by 2077.

There's an interesting dichotomy of thought. The protagonist/hero, Mil, (he really does some heroic stuff) was born 1/1/2000, so he's pushing eighty. Living and working on the Moon for half his life already, he thinks of himself as superannuated, too old to know better than to keep working. Yet the norm on Earth is to live to around the age of 140, and while it isn't stated, there's the implication that retirement before age 100 is unusual.

Chemical rockets are still used, but seem to be more efficient, shortening trips between Earth and Moon, and soon enough, Mars. Someone remarks that visiting the Moon is getting too much like visiting Cleveland; considering it's roughly a full day of travel, that would be starting from Melbourne, perhaps.

The super-rich guy behind a lot of what goes on is named Amon Neff. He's apparently the first trillionaire; the author trusts us to recognize that monetary amounts can be thought of in 2024 terms, even though inflation in the coming 53 years is likely to make today's trillion into 5-10 trillion (or much more) in the currency of 2077. I found it interesting that Neff's age in 2077 places his birth year near that of a modern near-trillionaire with two 4-letter names. But "our" super-rich guy isn't much like what Neff turns out to be.

Space and radiation medicine has apparently advanced a lot. Mil, even after a long lifetime of more-than-ordinary radiation exposure, survives an event that doses him with 4 Grays. A Gray is a unit of acute radiation absorbed, and for reference, 5 Grays leads to death within two weeks about half the time…for an initially healthy person. When a fella already has one foot and three toes in the grave, it takes a lot to keep his ticker ticking.

I like the concept of oxygen farming. The infrastructure needed to make practical use of such a resource is well thought out. The electrochemistry, and solar energy harvesting to run it all, are presented sketchily at best, which makes sense because they aren't on the plotline, but are stagecraft.

The author surrounds his characters with lots of equipment in various stages of wearing out, usually for dramatic effect. Set aside the Moon as the environment, and it is a lot like the life of  ranchers I know, who excel at keeping old trucks and tractors working decades past the expiration of their warranties.

The book's a fun read.