Probe [Paperback]

Probe (1991) is a technothriller novel. It is set shortly after the election of a Democratic candidate to the Presidency. A private space probe sends back information on an alien spacecraft.

In this novel, Bob Hansen is Vice President of Engineering at Asgard Aerospace Corporation. He was brought into Asgard because of his thesis on the Prospector space probe. Over the years, he has built the best R&D staff in the industry.

Carlton Moy is chief of the project to expand the Freedom space station at Asgard. He has worked with Bob since the inception of the Prospector project.

Bill Parker is chief of the programming section at Asgard. He still resents the recruitment of Hansen from the outside to fill a vacancy as chief scientist.

Larry Cantin is Vice President of Marketing at Asgard. He has already gotten rid of the idealist founder of Asgard and is now working on the ouster of Chuck Nichols.

Chuck Nichols is the CEO of Asgard. He is known for his deliberate tardiness at meetings as a sign of his power.

Sally Keller is a NASA scientist. She knows more about Prospector than anyone else at NASA.

In this story, Bob is called by Carlton at 1:42 in the morning about a problem. Prospector is experiencing some transmission errors. He goes to work and finds Carlton and Bill arguing over aliens. When they look more deeply into the problem, they discover signs of an alien craft in the vicinity of Prospector.

Bob decides to have the probe intercept the alien vessel. He has the proper commands sent to Prospector, but doesn't tell Nichols about the divergence right away. After the interception, they get video of the alien craft and Bob takes it to Nichols.

Bill Parker has already told Larry about the divergence and Cantin has told Nichols. Neither Cantin nor Nichols believe that the probe has found an alien craft, but they do see the possibilities for new NASA contracts. Then Bob brings them the evidence and they assume that he has faked the whole incident.

NASA calls a conference to hear the new information from Prospector. The scientists, managers and military are a noisy crowd and the NASA Administrator asks Sally to quiet the audience. She sets the volume control on the sound system so high that the feedback squeal drowns out the conversation.

The NASA meeting goes through various stages. After Bob shows a video of the alien craft, the crowd is shocked. The military declares the information Top Secret Eyes Only.

A senator from the Select Committee on Intelligence overrules the military. Then Nichols gives his speech on the effects of advanced technology on less advanced societies and the military regains control. They immediately offer Asgard a single vendor contract for AI programming in space.

This tale has a conspiracy that fakes the Prospector data. The group is worried about the new President, who wants to cut research funding. So they concoct an alien threat to stimulate spending on space and other protects.

Sally discovers that Bob is shy around women. So she pursues him until his resistance fails. Read and enjoy!

Recommended for Lerner fans and for anyone else who enjoys tales of high technology, political intrigue, and true romance.

-Bill Jordin

This is a hard review to write because any serious discussion of the plot would require spoilers. Suffice it to say it has a number of surprises, most of which are exciting or, at least, interesting, but some of which may leave the reader wishing the story had gone in another direction.

In feel, I think it comes closest to "The Terminal Man," by Crichton. A number of different sciences and technologies get to play their parts, most (but not all) showing that the author knows what he is talking about. Weakest is the non-technical, office-political axis of the story. The reader may feel this dimension lacks the same first-hand contact the others do, for its author.

Regardless, it's a good book with some neat ideas and a few good twists, set in the Very Near Future (an era that is, IMHO, underused in fiction). If like Crichton, or books like, "Oath of Fealty," you'll probably enjoy this one.

Robert Hanson, a researcher who heads up a team monitoring a space probe, gets strange data and even a video of an extra-terrestrial ship which stuns the team. But, his company wants it kept quiet. Why?
This near-future novel gets more and more involved as Hansen is drummed out of work and suspects a conspiracy. He's right, but he has no idea HOW high the conspiracy goes. Ed Lerner, a research engineer, has woven a Crichton-like story with intelligence and science that keeps you reading chapter after chapter..IF you like this kind of stuff.
Lerner certainly know HIS stuff..the tech is spot-on and readers may quibble with some things, but generally it's a good bedtime/airplane/vacation read.