Feersum Endjinn by Iain Banks
"Feersum Endjinn" is a science fiction novel set in a far-future Earth dominated by virtual reality and memory storage, allowing individuals to experience multiple lives. The story features Count Alandre Sessine VII, an aristocrat embroiled in a conflict between the Cryptographers and the Engineers, as they face an impending disaster called the Encroachment that threatens to destroy Earth and the solar system. Suspicion grows among the Cryptographers that their corrupt king may possess knowledge regarding an escape route from the calamity, leading to intrigue and danger for Sessine, who has been murdered multiple times.
Key characters include Hortis Gadfium III, the chief scientist who uncovers the king's secret wormhole, and Bascule, a naïve apprentice closely bonded to his talking ant, Ergates. Asura, a mysterious woman captured by the king's forces, reveals her ability to resist their manipulations and ultimately shares critical insights regarding the Encroachment. The narrative intertwines themes of identity and survival, culminating in revelations about reincarnation and the legacy of humanity's diaspora into the stars. The characters' journeys reflect their struggles against oppressive forces and their quest for knowledge in a complex, technologically advanced world.
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Subject Terms
Feersum Endjinn
First published: 1994
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—cultural exploration
Time of work: Several millennia in the future
Locale: Earth
The Plot
On a far-future Earth, virtual reality is predominant. It is easy for people to have their memories stored and to have multiple “lives.” Count Alandre Sessine VII is an aristocrat among the Cryptographers, who for decades have been at war with the rival Engineers. Both sides feel helpless in the path of the coming Encroachment, in which Earth and the solar system will be destroyed. Dissidents among the Cryptographers suspect that their corrupt king and his central clique have some knowledge of how to escape the calamity, which they so far lack.
Sessine has been killed seven times, so he knows his life is in danger. He takes special steps to be securely reincarnated. Meanwhile, Hortis Gadfium III, the chief scientist among the Cryptographers, has learned that the king and his cohorts, who are termed the Consistory, know of a secret wormhole by which they can escape the Encroachment and transport themselves to other planets long ago settled by earthlings.
Bascule is an enthusiastic if somewhat naïve apprentice working under the guidance of Mr. Zoliparia, another dissident among the Cryptographers. His greatest attachment is to his pet ant, Ergates. Because of her ability to talk and think, the reader immediately suspects Ergates to be more than an ant, although the childlike Bascule does not realize this. As Bascule listens to Mr. Zoliparias laments about the erosion of the human belief in progress, he only half understands them. Bascule reveals to Mr. Zoliparia that Ergates can talk, but before the older man can give Bascule any advice, Ergates is captured by a wayfaring bird.
The kings forces possess a mysterious woman named Asura. Asura seems innocent and childlike, but she has the power to resist their attempts to force her mind to submit to them. They try to invade her dreams, hoping to lure her by using girlish fantasies of a prince climbing into a tower to rescue her, but she recognizes the virtual prince for the impostor that he is.
Gadfium and her allies become aware of Asura’s existence and endeavor to save her. Gadfium clones herself into a male form and manages to liberate Asura. Once freed and fully aware, Asura reveals to the scientists the true nature of the Encroachment and discloses how the king and the Consistory are planning to save themselves. It is realized that Asura is in fact the final incarnation of Sessine; Sessine’s efforts to secure himself had been successful and, as Asura, he had finally eluded his enemies.
Asura escorts Gadfium and her friends to a safe area where they can hold out indefinitely against the Consistory. The scientists also find a way to resist the Encroachment. Learning from what the Diaspora, the departed humans who had migrated to the stars, had left to the Resiliers of Earth generations before, they find a way to increase the Suns light. Finally, Ergates the ant, now revealed as an agent of the artificial intelligence mechanisms left by the Diaspora, returns to his friend Bascule, who has departed with the exiles.