A Son of the Rock

The Kon-Tiki Quartet, Part 4. PS Publishing, 2021, 114 p.

The last thing Kat Manning and Travis Denholme can remember is being in an operating theatre on the colony planet of Newhaven where their minds were to be scanned for the secrets they held. Now they have been woken up in new bodies and find themselves back in Earth orbit a century later – and, due to the neurotransmitter they had discovered, with the ability to read minds. They have been sent to Earth to forestall the plans of their old enemy Ward Richards to form society in his own image and also to bring the benefits of the neurotransmitter to the remaining inhabitants of Earth. This brings them back to their old base Lakenheath in East Anglia where the Kon-Tiki project was brought to fruition.

Conditions back on Earth have regressed. Kat and Travis fall into the hands of a group known as Mayflies who are in thrall to an overclass of Longlords. In some respects these correspond to the Eloi and Morlocks of Wells’s The Time Machine. Old antagonist Daniel DeVries helps them into the Longlord compound where they discover that the Longlords in effect prey on the Mayflies in order to extend their own lives. But the technology is imperfect and faults have crept in. A now very decrepit original of Ward Richards is at the head of the Longlords but unknown to him, Paulo Martinez, the version of him printed on Newhaven and whose followers ensured he got back to Earth is fully intent on ruling the roost. Kat, Travis and DeVries conspire to thwart his plans.

Both Brooke and Brown are never less than readable. The Quartet of which this is the final part is more of an action adventure than a cerebral endeavour. It has the usual betrayals, setbacks and triumphs but above all it makes a case for humans being ultimately cooperative creatures and that the ability to read minds will only encourage that in us.

Pedant’s corner:- “Time interval later” count: less than ten.
Otherwise; “She wondered how Travis … Mediterranean lineage?” (Isn’t a question so doesn’t need a question mark,) “comprised of “ (just comprised here; no ‘of’,) “DeVries’s arms” (Travis’s arms makes more sense,) resister (register,) not a typo but as to “like Cortés conquering the Aztecs with Christianity and syphilis” (I don’t think syphilis was involved, and the Christianity was more like an afterthought. [It was actually more that Cortés seemed to fulfil an ancient Aztec prophecy which led to his success.])