Book Reviews : Buried Past Places the World at Risk

Artifact by Gregory Benford (Tor: $16.95)

Imagine an object with enormous powers, capable of disturbing, perhaps destroying, the balance of our planet. Seal this anomaly in a grave for some thousands of years until an archeological team accidentally turns it up, not beginning to comprehend the fearsome weapon about to be set loose.

This is the future world-at-risk of which physicist/science-fiction author Gregory Benford (“Timescape”) writes in “Artifact.” An American archeologist, Claire Anderson, makes the significant find on an excavation in Greece; although she knows she has made an important discovery, she has no idea of the dangers she is helping to unleash. While she is dealing with what seems to be an archeologist’s dream, she is threatened personally and professionally by Kontos, the greedy Greek official in charge of the dig. The villain of the piece, Kontos is on his own climb to power during a political crisis occurring in Greece, and he views Claire’s find as a major step up his ladder of ambition.

Claire responds to his threats by violating every ethical canon of her profession; she steals the artifact, bringing it secretly to America for study. Her theft not only triggers serious international political conflicts and professional jealousies and rivalries, but the removal of the artifact is an action that exposes the entire world to possible destruction because of the inherent nature of the object.

While scientists seek to uncover the significance of the discovery (and while Claire falls in love with a physicist), the object of their interest is engaged in a destructive life of its own, which they will have little power to check even when they do begin to comprehend what nature has wrought.

In a novel that attempts to mix scientific knowledge with human drama, Benford’s strength in “Artifact” is as scientist. Himself a physicist, he has created an explosive scenario that, if not probable, is at least imaginatively possible. Benford takes his hypothesis to the limit and then lets his imagination run to wondrous technical realms. However fictionalized his science, one trusts Benford’s knowledge. He is painstakingly careful to be accurate, and he is as helpful as possible in offering detailed and comprehensible explanations of a complicated subject, including hand-drawn illustrations to clarify confusion. He even offers a “technical afterword,” which provides further support for his sci-fi thesis.

However, his very commitment to preciseness frequently costs him something in suspense, the technical details slowing the story to tedious pace, except for the most scientifically curious reader.

But it is in characterization rather than plot that “Artifact” is most unsuccessful. Claire is paper thin. Nor do her physicist lover, John, or the villain Kontos fare any better. None of “Artifact’s” characters is compelling or, worse, even interesting. One would not care to spend the cocktail hour with any of them, let alone the emotional journey “Artifact” should demand.

It is the scientific side of “Artifact” that redeems the novel for those fascinated by this sort of imaginative future adventure. It is the subject matter and the authority of the writer that intrigue, not the style of presentation.