The Andromeda Strain
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The Andromeda Strain | |
First edition cover |
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Author | Michael Crichton |
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Country | United States |
Language | English |
Genre(s) | Techno-thriller |
Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
Publication date | 12 May 1969 |
Media type | Hardcover Paperback Audio |
Pages | 304 pages |
ISBN | ISBN 0-394-41525-6 |
The Andromeda Strain (1969), by Michael Crichton, is a techno-thriller novel documenting the efforts of a team of scientists investigating a deadly extraterrestrial microorganism which rapidly, fatally clots human blood. This novel established Michael Crichton as a best-selling genre author.
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[edit] Plot summary
A military satellite returns to Earth, and a military recovery team, in an anonymous van, are dispatched to retrieve it; while on live radio communication with their base, the recovery team die. Aerial surveillance later shows everyone in Piedmont, Arizona, the town near the satellite's landing site, has died. The base commander suspects the satellite returned with an extraterrestrial organism, and recommends the Wildfire team be activated.
The government-sponsored Wildfire team counters extraterrestrial biological infestation, its five members are (i) Dr. Jeremy Stone, molecular biology specialist; (ii) Dr. Peter Leavitt, disease pathology; (iii) Dr. Charles Burton, infection vectors specialist; and (iv) Dr. Mark Hall, M.D., Surgeon, biochemistry and pH specialist. The fifth member scientist, Dr. Christian Kirke, electrolytes specialist, was unavailable for duty because of appendicitis.
The scientists think the satellite, designed to capture upper-atmosphere microorganisms for bio-weapon exploitation, returned with an microorganism that kills by disseminated intra-vascular coagulation. On investigating the town, the team discover residents either die in mid-stride or go "quietly nuts" and commit bizarre suicide. Piedmont's survivors, the sick, Sterno-addicted, geriatric Peter Jackson, and the crying infant, Jamie Ritter, are biologic opposites who survived Andromeda.
The man, infant, and satellite are taken to the secret Wildfire laboratory, in Flatrock, Nevada, sixty miles from Las Vegas. More investigation determines that the bizarre deaths were caused by a sulfur-based, crystal-structured, extraterrestrial microbe on a meteor that crashed with the satellite, then knocked it from orbit. The microbe is composed of the chemical elements of terrestrial life, but not of DNA, RNA, proteins, and amino acids, yet it directly transforms matter to energy and vice versa.
The microbe, named Andromeda, mutates with each growth cycle, changing its biologic properties. The scientists discover that Andromeda grows only in a narrow pH range; in a too-acid or too-basic growth medium, it will not multiply — Andromeda's pH range is 7.39–7.43, like that of human blood. Thus, why Jackson and Ritter survived, abnormal blood pH; however, by the time the scientists notice that, Andromeda's current mutation degrades polymer plastic. Meanwhile, trapped in an Andromeda-contaminated laboratory, Dr Burton demands of Stone an injection of Kalocin ("the universal antibiotic"); Stone demurs, arguing it would render him too-vulnerable to infection.
The mutated Andromeda attacks the neoprene door and hatch seals in the Wildfire complex, automatically arming the self-destruction atomic bomb, and triggering its detonation countdown to incinerating all exo-biological diseases. Ironically, given its ability to generate matter directly from energy, Andromeda would feed from an atomic explosion.
To prevent the atomic explosion, Dr. Hall must insert his special key to an emergency substation anywhere in Wildfire. Unfortunately, he is trapped in an unfinished section with no substation. He must run Wildfire's obstacle course of automatic defenses to reach a working substation on another level of the laboratory. He prevents the explosion.
The novel's epilogue reveals that a manned spacecraft, Andros V, was incinerated in atmospheric re-entry, because its polymer heat shield failed. Space flights are discontinued until further notice.
[edit] Odd-Man Hypothesis
The Odd-Man Hypothesis is a fictional hypothesis articulated in the novel's story and named in the film. In the novel, the Odd-Man explanation is a page in a RAND Corporation report of the results of test series wherein different people (married, unmarried men and women) were to make command decisions in a nuclear- and biological wars and chemical crisis. This is in the film:
“ | Results of special testing confirm the Odd-Man Hypothesis, that an unmarried male should carry out command decisions involving thermonuclear or chem-biol destruct contexts. | ” |
The Odd-Man Hypothesis shows that unmarried men are capable of executing the best, most dispassionate decisions in crises. Statistics follow, Group: Index of Effectiveness: 0.343 for married men, 0.946 for single, male scientists, et cetera; then each scientist's command decision effectiveness index: Stone 0.687, Burton 0.543, Kirke 0.614, Leavitt 0.601, and Hall 0.899; thus, Dr Hall, M.D., is given the key to halt (if necessary) the Wildfire Laboratory's automated self-destruction. Moreover, considering Kirke's knowledge of electrolytes, Leavitt admits that the Odd-Man Hypothesis essentially why Hall was drafted to the Wildfire team.
This fabrication of scientific principle with supportive documentation (numbers, charts, etc.) is from the false document literary technique.
[edit] Main characters
- Dr. Jeremy Stone
- Professor of bacteriology at University of California, Berkeley; a Nobel Prize winner
- Dr. Charles Burton
- Professor of pathology at Baylor College of Medicine
- Dr. Peter Leavitt
- Clinical microbiologist; suffering from epilepsy
- Dr. Mark Hall
- Medical doctor and surgeon
[edit] Quotes
- “A man with binoculars. That is how it began: with a man standing by the side of the road, on a crest overlooking a small Arizona town, on a winter night. Lieutenant Roger Shawn must have found the binoculars difficult. The metal would be cold, and he would be clumsy in his fur parka and heavy gloves.“
- “…biology, the retarded child… Even in the time of Newton and Galileo, men knew more about the moon and other heavenly bodies than they did about their own.”
- “…first contact with extraterrestrial life will be determined by the known probablities of speciation… complex organisms are rare on earth… simple organisms flourish in abundance… there are millions of bacteria, thousands of insects but few primates… frequency of speciation goes a corresponding frequency in numbers… human interaction with extra terrestrial will… [be] identical to bacteria or viruses.”
- “…it was equally possible for extra terrestrial to contaminate the earth via space probes.”
- "We've faced up to quite a planning problem here. How to disinfect the human body — one of the dirtiest things in the known universe — without killing the person at the same time."
[edit] Adaptations
In 1971, The Andromeda Strain was the basis for the eponymous film directed by Robert Wise and featuring Arthur Hill as Stone, James Olson as Hall, Kate Reid as Leavitt, and David Wayne as Dutton, (Burton in the novel).
In September 2004, the Sci Fi Channel announced production of a miniseries, executively-produced by Ridley and Tony Scott and Frank Darabont. On 2 May 2007, the SciFi channel's news website (The SciFi Wire) announced that the miniseries would be broadcast on the A&E Network, also, on 16 August 2007 the cast and crew filmed at the Surrey, BC campus of Simon Fraser University.[1]. The miniseries premiere was Monday 26 May 2008. [2]
A fictional website has appeared, featuring references to trouble in Piedmont, Utah. It takes on the appearance of a blog, featuring posts and comments. This website is an apparent viral advertisement for the Andromeda Strain mini-series.
Musically, the novel's wider, cultural influence is evidenced in the science fiction, death metal band Nocturnus who sing, inspired by the novel, the Andromeda Strain, on their début album The Key; the Progressive metal band Shadow Gallery have a song titled The Andromeda Strain, about genetically engineered biological weapons, on their album Room V; and Klaus Schulze has a concert recording titled Andromeda Strain.
[edit] References
- Crichton, Michael (1969). The Andromeda Strain. ISBN 0-345-37848-2.
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