Proteus Manifest by Charles Sheffield
"Proteus Manifest" is a science fiction narrative that explores a future where shape-shifting technology allows individuals to transform into replicas of anyone they desire, provided they have the financial means. The story follows Behrooz "Bey" Wolf, an agent from the Office of Form Control, tasked with preventing illegal transformations. Initially, he investigates mysterious data losses related to form-change patients at Central Hospital, leading him to uncover illegal experiments, including mutations on children, orchestrated by the hospital's head, Robert Capman. The plot thickens as Wolf and his colleague John Larsen encounter dangerous transformations and conspiratorial figures, including a transformed Capman posing as a high-ranking official.
As the narrative progresses into "Proteus Unbound," Wolf grapples with personal demons and hallucinations linked to significant figures from his past, while also investigating failures of form-changing equipment in distant colonies. As tensions rise between various human settlements, Wolf's journey intertwines with themes of identity, control, and the influence of a pirate figure known as Black Ransome. The story culminates in a clash of ambitions and the revelation of an alien race that plays a significant role in the events unfolding around Wolf. The overarching themes invite readers to reflect on the implications of technology on identity and societal dynamics in a richly imagined future.
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Subject Terms
Proteus Manifest
First published: 1989 (previously published as Sight of Proteus, 1978, and Proteus Unbound, 1989)
Type of work: Novels
Type of plot: Science fiction—evolutionary fantasy
Time of work: The twenty-second century
Locale: Earth and elsewhere in the Solar System
The Plot
In the future Charles Sheffield describes, shape-shifting is commonplace; anyone, with enough money, can be transformed into a replica of Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, or anyone else desired. Behrooz (commonly known as Bey) Wolf is an agent of the Office of Form Control, charged with blocking the creation of illicit forms.
As Sight of Proteus begins, Wolf is investigating a series of mysterious losses of data on form-change patients at Central Hospital, where most of these operations take place. With his colleague, John Larsen, he searches the hospital’s computer files. He uncovers several mysterious codewords (PROTEUS, JANUS, LUNGFISH, and TIMESET) and decides to question Robert Capman, the hospital’s head. Wolf and Larsen discover that Capman has conducted illegal mutation experiments on children. They go to Capman’s office and discover that he has vanished.
Four years later, Wolf and Larsen investigate three more deaths caused by illicit form-change. Because the transformed humans were citizens of the United Space Federation (which rules the Moon and the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter), they are visited by Capman, who has transformed himself into Karl Ling, a high-ranking official best known for theorizing that the asteroids are the remnants of the exploded planet Loge. As part of his investigation, Larsen injects himself with DNA from the dead men. “Ling” then reveals that Loge was the home of aliens and that Larsen has injected himself with a virus containing genes that will transform him into a Logan. “Ling” then disappears.
“Ling” wrote several papers about Pearl, a hollow asteroid in Saturn’s rings. Wolf and fellow agent Park Green travel there and discover that the asteroid is an organic spaceship permeated by Betha Mustel, a human who has been transformed by Capman’s Project LUNGFISH to be part of Pearl. Wolf passes out, and when he awakes, he discovers that Pearl is headed toward Earth and that he—and Capman—have become Logans. Capman then invites Wolf to join him as leader of a transformed humanity. Wolf declines the invitation at the book’s end.
As Proteus Unbound begins, Wolf has recovered but has been fired from the Office of Form Control. He is obsessed by recurring hallucinations of Mary Walton, a former girlfriend, and the Dancing Man, a trickster archetype. He is approached by Leo Manx, who hires him to discover why form-changing equipment in distant settlements has been failing. Wolf discovers not only that the form-changing machines have been failing but also that the colonists have seen strange sights, such as the sky being filled with the image of a blood-red hound. When Wolf protests that such puzzles are beyond his competence to explain, he is told that twenty-six other experts were consulted; each died shortly after being contacted.
Investigating the Dancing Man hallucination, Wolf concludes that the trickster actually is Black Ransome, a formidable space pirate. Wolf then has a second dream, of a character called the Negentropic Man, a creature that reverses entropy. While Wolf investigates his dreams, the space farm where he is staying is destroyed.
While Wolf continues his research, the outer settlements move closer to war with the settlements on Mars and Jupiter. Wolf then encounters Mary Walton, who lures him to Ransome’s Hole. There he learns that Ransome is both the Dancing Man and the Negentropic Man, and that Ransome intends to conquer all human settlements and place them under a central government that he controls.
Attempting to escape from Ransome’s planet, Wolf discovers form-change equipment and changes himself into a Ransome duplicate. The change is unstable, and Wolf barely manages to reach Ransome’s headquarters, where he fights Ransome, who escapes with Walton. Because Walton threw Wolf into a form-change tank before she fled, Wolf survives. He reveals that the anomalies are caused by an alien race that lives inside black holes and possesses advanced knowledge. As the novel ends, Wolf plans to return to Earth, hoping to regain his position with the Office of Form Control.