mawilliams
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I don’t often read science fiction novels, but this debut novel by Matt Browne really captured my attention. “The Future Happens Twice” is about a secret government program to send frozen embryos on a 42,000-year voyage to an earth-like planet orbiting a star eighty-two light years from earth. Sounds like regular science fiction so far, but Browne adds much more to the story. The government has duplicated four sets of embryos of a girl and a boy. One set will be sent on the voyage, a second set will be tested in a dry run of the voyage, a third set was brought to term sixty years before the planned voyage, and the fourth set thirty years before the planned voyage. The two sets brought to term are studied to see if they have any physical disabilities that might impair the success of their duplicates when the duplicates finally embark on the real voyage.
Much of the novel reads like a mystery, almost like a detective mystery, as one of the twins, when he reached sixty, has a chance encounter with a thirty-year-old who looks exactly like he did when he was thirty. Intrigued he begins to investigate. When the investigation gets too difficult, he hires a private investigator who does unravel the whole mystery. Since the government knows that this ambitious project of cloning and freezing human embryos is both illegal and immoral, there is an elaborate cover-up to prevent the public from finding out until after the government has had a chance to launch the real starship. The scientists hired into the program are sworn to secrecy before they realize what the government is doing. Some of them have difficulty dealing with the duplicity of the government and the moral and legal consequences for them should news of this program leak out too early.
Browne has put together an interesting story with good characterization of his main characters and a plot line that goes through many surprising twists and turns. The novel contains very good science fiction plus very good drama as the some of main characters wrestle with something they think is immoral and illegal. They think the government has no business violating the rights of the children used for the experiment and the rights of those to be sent on the voyage. Matt Browne is very well informed about what can already be done in the world of science and what is still in the realm of possibility, and he has a good perception of what is morally correct and legal. He uses his knowledge to make “The Future Happens Twice” sound plausible. Even if you are not a devotee of science fiction, you will enjoy this gripping novel and learn quite a bit about science as well. And if you are a devotee of science fiction, you will not be disappointed by the ending.
Much of the novel reads like a mystery, almost like a detective mystery, as one of the twins, when he reached sixty, has a chance encounter with a thirty-year-old who looks exactly like he did when he was thirty. Intrigued he begins to investigate. When the investigation gets too difficult, he hires a private investigator who does unravel the whole mystery. Since the government knows that this ambitious project of cloning and freezing human embryos is both illegal and immoral, there is an elaborate cover-up to prevent the public from finding out until after the government has had a chance to launch the real starship. The scientists hired into the program are sworn to secrecy before they realize what the government is doing. Some of them have difficulty dealing with the duplicity of the government and the moral and legal consequences for them should news of this program leak out too early.
Browne has put together an interesting story with good characterization of his main characters and a plot line that goes through many surprising twists and turns. The novel contains very good science fiction plus very good drama as the some of main characters wrestle with something they think is immoral and illegal. They think the government has no business violating the rights of the children used for the experiment and the rights of those to be sent on the voyage. Matt Browne is very well informed about what can already be done in the world of science and what is still in the realm of possibility, and he has a good perception of what is morally correct and legal. He uses his knowledge to make “The Future Happens Twice” sound plausible. Even if you are not a devotee of science fiction, you will enjoy this gripping novel and learn quite a bit about science as well. And if you are a devotee of science fiction, you will not be disappointed by the ending.