Isaac Asimov - need to find a book

[chacho]

Hello,
I'm new here, so I hope this is the right place to ask this question. I need to find a book that I read a really long time ago and I can't remember the name anymore. It's from Isaac Asimov and basically it was about a guy, who is sent to a remote planet to investigate the loss of a space ship and it's crew. On the planet, there was some strange entity, composed of many small particles, all acting as one big organism. It (this strange being) emited some very powerfull waves, which basically made all people loose their minds, and this guy was chosen for the task, because he was immune to those waves. I can't really go into details, because I don't remember that much, but if this short description rings any bells, I'd appreciate some help. Thank you and have a nice day,
chacho

 

[Jaxom_Ruatha]

Sounds like Nemesis only the main character was a girl... am I right?

 

[chacho]

No, I'm sure it was a dude but thanx anyway

 

[Foxbat]

Hi Chacho and welcome to Chronicles Network.

I don't know if I can help you but I remember that Asimov had a few detective stories set in space. The main characters were Elijah Baley and R. Daneel Olivaw (he was a robot if I remember - and this might make him immune to the waves you mention...but I'm only guessing)

I don't know the story you describe or if this could be the character you have in mind but it's all I can think of right now.

 

[Winters_Sorrow]

This sounds very similar to a short story I read.
There's this spaceship lands on Mercury or something (a mission had gone there and never been heard of again about 20yrs prior).
There's a young guy on there. He either stowed away or it's his first spacetrip because they don't think much of him. They give him an obslete plastic spacesuit.
When they land they all get into their (metallic) spacesuits to investigate the remains of the previous ship and get 'attacked' by these creatures from the water. Everyone staggers around as if dazed and can't get back to the ship. The kid goes out to help and isn't affected as the creature use some kind of 'mental magnetism' to attack and he saves them all.

Is this what you're on about or have I just muddied the waters somemore...?

 

[chacho]

@Foxbat: I checked all books where this Elijah Baley guy appears, but with no luck. Thanks for the welcome though

@Winters_Sorrow: It sounds similar, but not quite. The guy comes with his own ship later and the creatures don't come from the water. The 'mental magnetism' is pretty close though but I don’t think it was a short story.

Here are some more details:

As the guy first inspects the long lost ship, he notices that the whole outer protective surface of the ship (which is supposed to be impenetrable) is heavily scratched.

I might be confused by some movie here, but I think that when he enters the ship, he uses some kind of device to read the mind of one of the dead people inside.

The whole idea behind those creatures composed of many small particles, is that as robotic 'life' on this planet evolved, the bigger machines became obsolete, as they broke down easily and needed more spare parts and so on. The creatures in question could adapt easier, as they were composed of millions of expendable/replaceable miniature particles and every particle knew where it’s place was. So if the creature were, say, cut in half, the two remaining halves would come together easily, despite the fact, that some particles were lost in the process.

At the end of the book, the guy enters some sort of cave, where all the creatures live. He’s flying through the cave in his small spaceship and the brain waves start getting to him, as they are very intense there. I think he cuts one of his hands with his laser gun, as he cannot quite control his actions anymore.

And again, I might be confused by the Matrix here (the movie), but in the very end he enters some kind of room, which is the control center of all those creatures. There’s some man there, or some very powerful computer, who/which controls all those things… and that’s about all I can remember.

I hope this helps.

 

[Foxbat]

The only supercomputer that I can think of that Asimov wrote about was Multivac. Anyway, here's a list of his books. You might recognise the title if you see it.

http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/authors/Isaac_Asimov.htm

 

[manephelien]

There is one short story called Hallucination, which rang a bell with your first post:

15 year old Sam Chase arrives on Energy Planet, where he has been sent by Central Computer, which analyzes the talents of children and decides which career suits which person.

At the start, Sam couldn't understand why CC had sent him to the planet, as his interests lay in neurophysiology rather than engineering.

Turns out everyone who goes outside suffers from what they think are hallucinations, including the Base Commander. Only Sam is open-minded enough to investigate the real cause. There is intelligent life on the planet, bugs who indidvidually aren't very intelligent, but whose nervous systems can fuse into a larger unit which is intelligent and capable of communicating telepathically with humans.

Needless to say, Sam saves the day and admits he was able to do so because he had faith in the Central Computer, it must have had some reason, not obviously visible at first sight, to send him to the planet in the first place.

The story can be found in Gold, the last Asimov SF anthology.

 

[j d worthington]

Manephelian: Do you know when that story was published originally? I'd be interested in knowing, as I don't recall ever reading that one...

Also, some portions of the poster's original query reminded me of a story by Ellison, "World of the Myth", from the collection I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream (originally published in August 1964).

 

[manephelien]

The story was one of Asimov's last, copyrighted 1995 by Nightfall, Inc (3 years after Asimov's death). I'm not sure it's been published anywhere except in Gold. The collection's a good read in any case, so I'd definitely recommend getting it for more than Hallucination.

 

[j d worthington]

Thank you!

 

[jeff.s.p]

Just stumbled onto this site.... Interesting Forum!


As a big fan of Asimov ( the first books I ever read.. and actually enjoyed from my youth .. Foundation series)

I also noticed this post, and although it's nearly a year old...!
thought I'd respond anyways..


I think the book initially asked of was entitled " The Gods Themselves"
.. a good read!

enjoy

jeff

 

[the pagemaster]

I've never read any of Asimov's books. are they pretty good? I'm a Piers Anthony person myself.

 

[j d worthington]

Whoof! Going from Piers Anthony to Isaac Asimov.... Hard to imagine that particular gear-shift!

Yes, some of Asimov's books are quite good. If you like the older science fiction, a lot of his books will probably appeal, as he was one of the major writers of the Golden Age. If, however, you're into the more recent sort of sf, then a lot of his work is unlikely to appeal. And Asimov was such a prolific writer on so many topics -- from sf stories to science popularizations to books on the Bible and Shakespeare (and even an annotated Gilbert & Sullivan) to mysteries to limericks, that even if one part of his work doesn't appeal, others might. So... in order to get a better idea: what other writers besides Piers do you like? The more information we have, the more we'll be able to help....

 

[Kristina]

Azimov's books are rather peculiar

 

[C. Craig R. McNeil]

Azimov's books are rather peculiar

In a good way! Asimov had a unique style of writing and story telling that took me a wee while to get used to but once I did I never looked back!