Read Time: 4 Minutes
Assist, by Steven Mathew Zellers, paints a bleak and grim future for humanity where global warming and overpopulation have driven countries to the brink. Millions starve or are involved in endless conflict, and with their eyes on Mars and beyond into the galaxy, humankind’s reach for the stars is at hand. Much of this is covered in the opening preface which I found a little dry, but it served to recount the history of things to come and set the stage for where we find ourselves when the story picks up in the closing decade of the 21st century.
While it is set some 70+ years in earth’s future, so much of what they rely on is still recognisable contemporary technology as if the advancement has stalled out. Text messages, emails, laptops and the like are still used where I’d hope it’d have evolved beyond that by the end of the century. Yet some major advances too, namely the outpost on Mars and its space elevator, and the giant space ark – a generation ship that’ll carry a few hundred of the best and brightest humans have to offer to Kepler B in order to start over.
Fans of hard science fiction will enjoy the attention to detail. Most of the science sounded rooted in reality, and if it wasn’t, it was believable enough that I didn’t question it. While the zero-point energy propulsion drive doesn’t exist, it wasn’t a “magic wand drive” and also wasn’t the primary source of the ark’s engine output. That, as the title implies, refers to the gravity assistance (often called a slingshot manoeuvre) where you use the moon, sun, or other planets to increase velocity by sling-shotting into their gravity well to increase your speed.
The story itself rockets along, almost like a speedrun through galactic resettlement. Here I found myself wanting more time spent on the story, as if often feels like we’re being told everything rather than shown through action. At times it felt more like an outline, albeit a detailed outline, of a larger story, where each part could be expanded on to give that extra detail I found I was looking for.
I think this is perhaps due to not following a single person for the duration of the story, but more because we’re following the idea of the mission to the exoplanet in the Kepler system. While parts do follow certain characters, like Sarah and Shane – a couple of scientists trying to get into the cryo-pods to sleep their way through the 300+ year trip – the focus isn’t on them for the whole story. I found them a little hard to like as the launch day grew closer, as some of their decisions, though pragmatic, seemed selfish and harsh considering the mission was to create a better future for humankind.
Following the idea of the mission is an interesting approach to telling the story, and it feels much like a historical record being told at some far distant future of how humans made it out of the solar system. No spoilers because it’s in the blurb, but once they reach the new world it feels like they are woefully unprepared for settling a planet. Given all the time and money and brainpower that went into designing the mission, a little more time spent on thinking how not to start over in almost cavepeople-like conditions should have been higher on the agenda.
The narration by Melissa-Marie Shriner was clean without any obvious retakes, background noises or other issues. So, a good, clean read with good production. I wasn’t a fan of a couple of voices, but that’s likely more of a personal dislike. Not a standout performance, but not terrible either – just solidly middle-of-the-road
As hinted at in the blurb, there’s something rather significant that seems like it’s going to shift the direction of the story. It felt a little abrupt, partly because I wasn’t watching how far through the story I was and partly because I wasn’t expecting it given the story so far. There’s definitely another story to come which undoubtably digs into this further.
Overall, Assist is an interesting look at a possible future with plenty of realistic science to back up the plot. Admittedly, I am not a scientist but most of it certainly sounded plausible. I often wonder what it’d be like travelling to an entirely new world and setting it up from scratch, and then I remember I can’t stand being on an airplane for even short trips and the feeling passes, so I suspect even if this were possible, I’d need to live out those fantasies vicariously through stories like this one.