Oceanic by Greg Egan

“Oceanic” is a 1998 science fiction novella by Greg Egan. It is about an ocean dwelling man living on the planet Covenant, and how the events of his life take him from religious zealot to non-believing academic.

Non-Spoiler Summary In A Nutshell:

Martin is a Freelander – one who lives in organic hulls on the oceans of Covenant. As a boy he takes part in a deeply religious experience that solidifies his faith in Beatrice – the daughter of God who convinced Covenant’s founders to give up immortality. Ah, life is great for one of the convinced religious right, but as time goes on Martin’s experiences and studies begin to conflict with his deep rooted faith in Beatrice. As he has illicit relationships, watches his parents grow older and joins a small circle of scholars studying the peculiar effects of one of Covenant’s most abundant microbes his views of life start to change dramatically.

A warm breeze was blowing. I looked around, at the flat horizon, at the blaze of stars, at the faint silver light off the water. Daniel recited: “Holy Beatrice, I am ready to die to this world. Let me drown in Your blood, that I might be redeemed, and look upon the face of Your Mother.”

I repeated the words, trying hard to mean them.

“Holy Beatrice, I offer You my life. All I do now, I do for You. Come into my heart, and grant me the gift of faith. Come into my heart, and grant me the gift of hope. Come into my heart, and grant me the gift of love.”

“And grant me the gift of love.”

Daniel released me. At first, my feet seemed to adhere magically to the hull, and I pivoted backwards without actually falling. I clung tightly to the hook, pressing the cold metal against my belly, and willed the rope of the winch to snap taut, leaving me dangling in midair. I even braced myself for the shock. Some part of me really did believe that I could change my mind, even now.

Then my feet slipped and I plunged into the ocean and sank straight down.

My Two Cents:

• The good:

• Although the plot of this story may sound a bit boring, I found it to be quite engaging. Isn’t that really the point of a plot – to show character change and development over the course of the story? Well, there is plenty of well-explained change going on in this story.
• The sketchy details on the founding and early days of Covenant were frustratingly inviting! Who were the Angels? Why did they leave Earth? How did they so radically alter this world? Enquiring minds want to know!
• I think that one of the benefits of great writing is that it makes you think deeply about your own beliefs and even question them a little bit. “Oceanic” does that – if you let it.

• The bad:

• While the idea of a “bridge” is extremely interesting and even a little bit humorous, be careful of the detailed graphic descriptions of sex that accompany it!
• There are several instances of strong language and adult themes in “Oceanic”.
• If you consider yourself to be extremely conservative and don’t like your belief system to be questioned then perhaps you should stay away from this story.

Fact Sheet:
• Page Count: 41
• Word Count: 19,638
• “Oceanic” garnered the following awards:

• It won the 1999 Hugo Award for Best Novella
• It also won the 1999 Locus Award
• It won or was listed as a finalist for several other awards, including: the 1999 Tiptree, HOMer, Aurealis and Asimov’s Reader Poll as well as the 2000 Hayakawa and 2001 Seiun awards, (Whew!)

Where you can find “Oceanic”:

• This novella first appeared in the August 1998 issue of Asimov’s Science Fiction.
• “Oceanic” is included in Greg Egan’s amazing collection Dark Integers And Other Stories – soon to be released in paperback!
• You can read a free HTML version of this story at Greg Egan’s very cool website.

Some Interesting Links:

• You can lean more about Greg Egan, the amazing Australian science fiction author, by reading the Wikipedia article about him.

Craving More Stories?
If you enjoyed this story then you might like Wang’s Carpets, about a group of cloned beings who discover an amazing life form on a planet orbiting Vega, also by Greg Egan.

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