Mutiny

Space: Above and Beyond #3

by Easton Royce

Lieutenant Hawkes, an in-vitro himself, is angered when, after damage is caused to the ship, the human members of the space crew decide to sacrifice the unborn in-vitros in order to save the humans on board, leaving Hawkes to debate whether or not to start a mutiny.When it is decided to sacrifice the unborn in-vitros on board the damaged spaceship in order to save the humans, Lieutenant Hawkes, an in-vitro, must decide whether to start a mutiny

Genres: Science Fiction

102 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

A pseudonym for Neal Shusterman.

Reviews

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 3 of 4 in a series of junior novelizations of episodes of the Fox show Space: Above and Beyond that aired in 1995. Despite only being on air for one season I really enjoyed the show. I was a more realistic near-future take on a typical alien invasion story that had well fleshed-out characters. The over-arching story had interesting layers with the In-Vitro and A.I. both shaping the world this story takes place in during the A.I. Wars before the main story even takes place, and the enemy we will come to know as the Chigs will be a mysterious threat that we are challenged to unlock.

Mutiny is the fourth episode of the show and focuses on the "Tank" Cooper Hawkes giving us a really good view on how In-Vitros are perceived by humanity during this time. We already knew they were hated by much of humanity due to their role, or lack there-of, in the A.I. Wars, but this throws us into the mix as Cooper is forced to make a gut-wrenching decision. A great story.

[J.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love "Space: Above and Beyond," even though it was only on TV for one season. This is a YA retelling of one of the episodes, and follows it pretty accurately. "Mutiny" is one of my favorite episodes, if only because it accentuates the discrimination toward people known as invitros or "tanks" (humans conceived artificially). When a space carrier loses power and has to shut down systems to part of the ship to save the crew, Hawkes discovers he has a sister among the unborn invitros. As he was my favorite character on the show, I enjoy this episode (and book) because it deals intimately with his character development.