Cageworld No 2: The Lost Worlds Of Cronus by Colin Kapp (book review).
Back to Solaria, or what was left of our star system when the AI Zeus turned it into a set of Dyson spheres or shells at each planet and asteroid belt distance from the sun. The AI Zeus assigns a unique set of mini-suns to each layer, but the mechanism for achieving nighttime remains unclear.
Interestingly, the opening chapters reveal a small crew of a religious group, Children of the Spectrum, fleeing the Jupiter shell and then realizing they didn’t have the oxygen supply after their fungus-ridden hydroponics farm failed to get to the Saturn shell. Unexpectedly, they arrive in another shell, later called Cronus. The air might be thin, but they survive.
Meanwhile, a new shell is discovered much later in the Mars Shell. The task of investigating falls to Maq Ancor, now the director of the Centre for Solarian Studies. He enlists his old team, the Magician Cherry, who is now mostly intoxicated, along with his illusionist team, Carli and Tez, who are now unemployed, and the electrical Sine Anura for the trip. Zeus has also abducted Niklas Boxa, and the trail extends beyond the boundaries of the Jupiter shell.
Much of this book follows their encounters across the various cageworlds/shells, no matter how brief. The issue arises from the incomplete disclosure of their encounters’ scope. I mean, there was a major battle across the Jupiter shell, wiping everyone out. Think about it now. A Dyson sphere in Jupiter orbit is a massive thing, so how can a war kill everyone there? We get no indication of whether there are islands and oceans there, so it’s pretty much a blanket statement. It does make me wonder if author Colin Kapp really realised the size he was dealing with, or whether he thought it would get in the way of the story he was prepared to tell.
You’re likely to consider much of what comes next as a plot twist. Naturally, they arrive in Cronus and encounter descendants who understand that their gene pool requires expansion to prevent inbreeding. Other revelations indicate that Zeus engages in bio-engineering, although he appears to overlook this aspect.
Even though the opening chapters ignore Magician Cherry’s alcoholism, the character-building has improved. The characters now have more realistic expectations, and the emotional content has slightly improved. The Shellback spaceship, with its automatic protective armour, should definitely be on everyone’s bucket list for a flight. The jumps to events rather than the boring times in flight tends to forget it could drive you nuts and short-tempered, let alone anything stronger. However, this was written in 1984, a time when we didn’t hold high expectations for our science fiction, and often, the lack of detailed information allowed the readers to draw their own conclusions. Whether that was Kapp’s intention is difficult to say. Given that Zeus created numerous Dyson spheres within each other to regulate human population growth, I believe it would have made more sense to observe life’s nature. Given the size of these shells, there must have been a significant population increase.
With two more novels remaining, perhaps the enigma will find its solution.
GF Willmetts
June 2024
(pub: New English Library, 1982. 170 page paperback. Price: varies. ISBN: 0-450-05409-6)
