MIND VAULT

In Martinez’s SF novel, a humble bartender in the far future is swept into interplanetary intrigue and war when mercenary operatives discover that he is a valuable commodity.

It’s been four centuries since an ostensibly benevolent alien race called the Hapnu visited Earth and gifted humanity with assorted advancements—chief among them is a cranial implant called a shard, which serves as a backup-record of a person’s entire mind. The shards may be transplanted to cloned bodies in the event of death, thus conferring functional immortality. Add to this the rise of psychic abilities (“talents”) in select people and the stage is set for numerous power-grabs and conspiracies among mercenary gangs and opportunistic master-criminals who can cheat death and use psychic team members as special weapons. Noah Martin, an unassuming, good-hearted Earth bartender, is working at an exclusive terrestrial club when his brain is suddenly invaded by Ada, an attractive telepath. She implants vital information and an encryption key inside Noah just before a gun battle erupts between opposing factions. Noah is immediately abducted by operatives from Ivory Point, a rather ethical group of fixers. They quickly determine that the unsuspecting Noah harbors uncommonly powerful but untrained psi powers, and that, against his will, Noah has become part of a scheme by the sinister Demacia syndicate to intervene in a Martian war and control the cure for a dreaded plague. Martinez assembles an engaging space opera with a solid gallery of adventurers, a pinch of cyberpunk noir, and a cargo of questions left unanswered (in this series-kickoff, anyhow). Chief among the puzzles is Noah’s binding with an uncanny “sphere” that turns out to be a very literal deus ex machina in the heroes’ fights. The alien Hapnu are conspicuous by their absence from most of the narrative—double-crosses, double-agents, double-dealings, and derring-do are more central to the story: “Adrenaline rushed to Noah’s head as he triple-checked his plasma gun. He didn’t feel quite real, as if he’d stumbled out of the bar and into an action movie.”

Far-future crime syndicates and dueling psychics face off in this serviceable SF series opener.