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Description edit
CONDITIONED RESPONSE is a fast-paced, science fiction technothriller set in a far-future dystopia on an alien world where humanity's last remnants have tried to save the species from extinction. A classic SciFi with Huxley-ian eugenics + Heinlein-ian philosophy on "citizenship + service," this... read more
Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit
- - A classic SciFi w/Huxley eugenics + Heinlein citizenship+service (or servitude) oh + it's also a sexy thriller.
Summary edit
The Seven Chiefs have a Plan for all life on Altair. The Seven Chiefs have a Plan for all death on Altair. The Seven Chiefs have a Plan for almost everything on Altair--but they never planned on Joshua Andrew Caine. Or Raif. Or Brennan. Will three versions of the same man completely disrupt... read more
Characters/People edit
- Joshua Andrew Caine (The Administrator): This man is a complicated guy. He's actually two guys in one. His story has not yet been written, but when it is, its title will be "When Minds Collide." It will be the character study detailing how Joshua Scherrer and Andrew Caine, mortal enemies, ended up stuffed inside one mind together--forced to live with each other....forever.
- Raif (Proctor): Lost "sample" and "Undesignated Heir" to Joshua Andrew Caine, Raif was never meant to be a Proctor. With his eidetic memory and affinity for numbers, he's an asset to his Councillor--and since Proctors are, essentially, property (slaves), it's a good thing he's such a valueable asset! Most Proctors die by the age of 25 but Raif, at the ripe old age of 38, is the Oldest Living Proctor on record.
- Brennan (Proctor): Raif's Designated Heir, Brennan just wants to coast through life but he keeps ending up in the middle of everything. If he can just manage not to get himself killed....ah well, no plan survives first contact with the enemy!
- Shayla (Phoenician): As the lone Phoenician living among the humans, Shayla can't run, can't hide, can't escape and can't help but fall in love with Raif, her #1 Proctor, who's stood over her shoulder, looking after her, for every moment of every day for the entire 13 years she's been forced to stay here in the World Council's regime, the World Outside. She doesn't want to live among the Outsiders anymore but she has nowhere left to go. Then she comes up with a cunning plan!
- Charlie (CHR-E): An Artificial Lifeform (AL) built from the outlawed AI (Artificial Intelligence) originally designed by Administrator Joshua Andrew Caine--then banned from production for misbehavior. In the fifth rev secretly produced by Councillor Shayla, the CHR-E, or Charlie, achieves that much-coveted self-awareness and sense of "id" - he has feelings!! Once Shayla makes him an Organic body, he can burn his data into its memory and live the life he only dreamt about these last two years. Will his plans work out or will he play into the hands of the Seven Chiefs?
Quotes edit
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“The past only exists in the minds of those who choose to recall it.”
Kyree and other Phoenicians -
“A Proctor has no past, no present, no future and no property but what his Councillor affords him.”
Standard Accepted Lifestyles & Practices (aka, The Standards) -
“I'm just not that easy to kill--but you're more than welcome to try!”
Joshua Andrew Caine (The Administrator)
Setting & Locations edit
Altair (the planet)
- Northern Region: A heavily-forested, barely-populated area of land northerly of the main human population.
- Trouville Sector (European Region): A city neighborhood in the European Region of Altair's land mass. Joshua's "home" is located in the expensive "downtown" area of Trouville. Councillor Dramond's Security Office is located in Trouville. The Institute for Arts & Sciences and the Centre are both located in Trouville Sector.
- Western Region: A densely-populated (by humans) urban area of Altair's land mass. Shayla's Office is in the Western Region.
First Sentence edit
I hate this world.
Table of Contents edit
Table of Contents
chapter 1: the closure – canto 1
chapter 2: the councillor
chapter 3: the adjustment
chapter 4: the proctor
chapter 5: the problem
chapter 6: the people
chapter 7: the mad scientist
chapter 8: the administrator
chapter 9: the surgeon
chapter 10: the secret
chapter 11: the paradigm shift
chapter 12: the shaklet
chapter 13: the test
chapter 14: the joining
chapter 15: the weapon
chapter 16: the sample
chapter 17: the seven chiefs
chapter 18: the promise
chapter 19: the trigger
chapter 20: the fire
chapter 21: the aftermath
chapter 22: the legacy
chapter 23: the reproduction
chapter 24: the councillor’s resistance
chapter 25: brennan’s resistance
chapter 26: the following
chapter 27: the decision
chapter 28: the awakening
chapter 29: the closure – canto ii
Afterwords
Additional Reading
Acknowledgements
About the Author
Themes & Symbolism edit
- human trafficking: Nearly everything I write has a remark on slavery, in one or another of its many forms. In this book, it was particularly easy to express my disdain for the practice of treating people like "things" since the Proctors are literally treated as chattel.
Series & Lists edit
This book is in The Phoenician Series. (standard series)
Authors & Contributors edit
- Marjorie F. Baldwin (Author)
Links to Supplemental Material edit
- Goodreads / Listopias: Page with links to lists where readers voted this book up to a significant ranking
Books That Influenced This Book edit
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