Saint Five

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Let's give Sam Girdich a lot of credit for tackling some classic science fiction/religious issues that it seems like no one else is tackling anymore. In this case, the core issues that propel the book include the question of miracles and that propounded in Anthony Boucher's “The Quest for Saint Aquin,” namely, will man's creation serve man's Creator?

In this story, man's creation is Homo Mechanicus, represented by Father Michael Alan Cline. Homo Mech is not android or robot; they appear to be some kind of biological entity distinguished by metalic looking skin. Homo Mech reproduces, eats, bleeds, excretes and dies like Homo Sap. Other than the skin, they do not noticeably differ from Homo Sap.

Father Mike, however, is the first Homo Mech to enter the Catholic priesthood. In fact, Homo Mech has not shown much interest in religion over the approximate 180 years since its creation in the late 21st century. During one of his sermons, Father Mike finds himself levitating outside of his own control. Then he apparently bilocates without his knowledge to cure a sick child.

Miracles must be investigated and this allows the introduction of Papal Envoy Dr. Theone Penn. Theone has a massive chip on her shoulder. She thinks that Homo Mech are simply mimicking sentience rather than actually being sentient. This permits Girdich to explore questions of free will and sentience.

The prose of this book is well-crafted. I found myself pulled along by the story. However, I found the ending muddled. Girdich had a tendency to keep his revelations under his vest. Characters would discover important facts and act on them, but the reader never learned what the facts were. For example, Haruki - who emerges as a significant character about 70% of the way into the book - learns something and attempts to stop Theone from spoiling Father Michael's revelation of whatever he's learned but we never find out what he learned. I infer that while he was typing and looking at files during the big scene - why he was doing that is not explained - he discovered that the mystery turned on the fact that Father Mike was only the first of a planned five Homo Mech's who were to become Catholic priests. If that's the case, that is a pretty nuanced thing for Haruki to put together so quickly. I would have preferred some explanation at some point.

Likewise, the impression I got was that the conspiracy itself couldn't explain the miracles, but that wasn't clear to me. Similarly, I am not sure if I was supposed to conclude that Homo Mech lacked free-will, i.e., that Father Mike was “programmed” to become a priest and that Father Mike's showed free-will in saving himself. If I was that confused, it would seem that something needs to be done to make things a bit clearer. (Likewise, at the end, Father Mike tells Theone that she needs to get right with her brother. Brother? I went back through the story and looked for some reference to her brother, but couldn't find it. Did that fall out in the editng process?)

Nonetheless, these infelicities actually got me to thinking about the story and the issue of free-will and God's intervention into the world. As a thought-provoker, I give it four stars, but I think it could have been better.