Alliance Space: Merchanter's Luck/40,000 in Gehenna [Mass Market Paperback]

"Alliance Space" is a re-release of "Merchanter's Luck" and "40,000 in Gehenna" bound in one volume. Both are excellent books, but for fans of Cherryh's Company Wars universe hoping for a new novel, this is not it.

Merchanter's Luck is a wonderful story, really more of a novella by today's standards, but a great read dealing with the economics of a believable future concerning the dominance of large corporations driving small companies out of business, in this case it is a large family merchant ship and a small family ship, now run by the lone surviving member trying to hold to all that he has left. Allegory can be made to today's family farms in the United States being eaten up by large corporate farms and urban sprawl, but that might be reaching.

40,000 in Gehenna is a very deep psychological and organizational behavior tale that is a companion to Cherryh's award winning Cyteen, that was curiously written before Cyteen, which is in my opinion just more proof of Cherryh's brilliance. But for us mere mortals, I would suggest that you read Cyteen first, before you read any of the other books about Azi. And for that matter, you should read Down Below Station before Mercahnter's Luck.

But really, these are two great stories, (they just don't naturally match up together) and should not be missed, so if you haven't read them, you should, I'd just suggest you read Cyteen and Downbelow Station first, as they set the framework for the whole Merchanter Universe. On the other hand, if you (like me) treasure your first editions of these two books, this is a great way to re-turn to these works without breaking your old yellowed pages.

And by the way... Dear DAW publishing, how long are you going to sit on the two new books that have been completed before you decide to release them? Cherryh fans have been waiting for the new Cyteen Book for 20 years and it has been finished since last fall. What gives?

Alliance Space (2008) is an SF omnibus edition of the Alliance-Union Universe series, including Merchanter's Luck and Forty Thousand in Ghenna. These stories are set after the Company Wars when both sides are trying to keep the peace, but are still suspicious of each other.

Merchanter's Luck (1982) has the Alliance and Union trying to restore the old trade routes between their spaces. Rumors have associated Pell Station with the new routes.

Sandor Kreja is a minor merchanter within Union space operating under false papers and a false name. His ship -- lately called the Lucy -- is really Le Cygne, an almost forgotten vessel. He docks Lucy on Viking Station and goes looking for crew to replace the man rejoining his ship at the port. He takes a few credits to buy drinks and talks to a couple of potential crewmen. Then he encounters Allison Reilly, a tall dark-haired silver-clad woman from the Dublin Again.

Sandor loses track of his conversation and just stares at the Allison. Then she stares back briefly and walks out of the bar. Sandor pays his bill and follows her out. She isn't anywhere in sight, so he checks the adjacent bars and finds her again. They eventually go to a sleepover and slake their lust.

The next morning, Allison has to return to her ship. Sandor learns that her ship is heading to Pell Station in Alliance space and vows to meet her there. Despite being alone on a three jump route, the Lucy arrives only a couple of hours after the Dublin Again.

In this story, Sandor has his visage spread throughout Pell station. He has somehow become a popular hero. But someone makes a complaint about his past activities and the dockmaster calls him in for questioning. After discussing his reasons for coming to the station, Sandor applies for papers allowing him to trade within Alliance space.

Allison gets her ship council to agree to a deal with Sandor. They will loan him half a million for cargo and another hundred thousand for other expenses in return for a share of the profits. In return, Sandor will accept four crewpersons from the Dublin Again to help operate the Lucy. Naturally, Allison will be his second in command.

Sandor also has a talk with Captain Mallory -- commander of the AS Norway -- about the arrangement. She provides a briefing of the situation and replaces his intended cargo with military goods. Sandor is barely functional with Mallory, a former Mazianni captain. He keeps thinking of the Mazianni boarding party that had killed most of his family.

Forty Thousand in Gehenna (1983) has the Union settling colonies around Alliance space. These colonies were not intended to succeed as such, but only to keep the Alliance too busy to think about aggression. One of these colonies was on Gehenna II.

Three Union ships -- Venture, Capable, Swift -- carried 42,363 colonists to the Gehenna system from Cyteen Station. Of those colonists, 452 were citizens and 41911 were noncitizen clones.

Jin 458-9998 is an azi, a lab-born clone trained via memory induction tapes. His contract was bought by the government for the Gehenna colony. All his hair is removed and he is feeling erased. But he is told that he is doing well and is given some special tapes to make him feel better.

Pia 86-687 is also azi. She is chosen as Jin's mate. They are given special tapes to teach them how to produce born-man children.

All the colonists are offloaded onto Gehenna II and the ships leave. Additional personnel, equipment and supplies are scheduled to arrive in three years. These backup resources never arrive.

In this story, the native animals called "ariels" infiltrate the camp, going everywhere. Ruffles becomes a permanent resident in the main dome. She sits on her stack of boxes and watches the colonists.

Other native animals called "calibans" stay on the other side of the river at first, but eventually cross over and build their mounds on the nearside banks. These larger gray reptileian-like warm-bloodied animals continually build involved structures of mud and rock.

The exobiologists believe that neither the ariels nor calibans are sapient. Their behavior is too strange and repetitive to suggest intelligence. Then the brown calibans appear.

These works represent the two major themes in the author's stories. The first tells of the interplay between humans from different cultures. The second depicts the relationships between humans and aliens. These themes are still being explored in the Gene Wars and Foreigner series. Enjoy!

Highly recommended for Cherryh fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of space adventures and planetary colonization.

-Arthur W. Jordin