In a universe only slightly different from our own, the United States of Atlantis is still reeling from the Day The World Changed, when a sleeper virus caused the Stock Exchange computers to endlessly loop once the Exchange’s value hit 15,000 points. Perhaps the terrorists hadn’t expected quite as much damage – the overheating supercomputers caught fire, the knocked out computer system caused the sprinkler system to fail, and the stock exchange itself caught fire, killing hundreds. A worldwide manhunt soon discovered that the terrorists were hiding in the Middle Eastern country of Kalashnistan, and the Atlantian government declared war. “The Atlantians won. So they’d be crazy to stop now.”
Erratian beekeeper Saman Massoudi has troubles of his own. All he wants is to reinvigorate the honey market, and his Al-Nur Bee and Comb company, by increasing awareness of the delicious honey made by Jana bees. His cousin Aziz lives in Atlantis, and has mailed him some of the genetically modified bees they have there, though Saman’s not too impressed, particularly when the parcel of bees results in him being a suspect during an attempted assassination attempt on The General of Errat. As Saman tries to extricate himself from a mess caused by the wilful stupidity of those in power, who hear only what they want to hear, in Atlantis the media are heightening fear and anxiety.
A blistering satire about the War on Terror, Morgan captures many elements of contemporary life well, from the shortsightedness of non-sustainable farming to the impact of global policies on individuals, and the sacrifice of logic in favour of conspiracy and paranoia.
There are too many plot strands to discuss in detail, so I’ll give one example to showcase Morgan’s characterisation and style: the Atlantian leader, President Hedges, is chilling in his assurance that his presidency is a sign from God that he’s made, and will make, the right choices – “Without God he might have been too weak to do what sometimes had to be done, because it took a lot of love to put a man to death…” Sure, some people think he wasn’t really elected president, but if God had wanted that other guy to win then he would have won. The fact that President Hedges is president is proof that that was God’s plan, and anyone who doesn’t understand that is a confused individual who haven’t let God into their hearts. And while, during the election, “his critics had said he’d been responsible for more executions that anyone else in the country, ever” Hedges now knows that this was because God was preparing him all along for this War.
Other sub-plots involve a staffer for the President’s team working on the top 50 threats to the United States of Atlantis, an on-going terror warning about bees, a torture expert who cannot rest until his guilty prisoners (and they’re all guilty) confess, an emasculated Prime Minister whose wife only recognises his potency when he’s commanding and invading, and the Spiegelflug family: Liberty Lodge switchboard operator Marg, disaster-prepared bookkeeper Ned Snr, teenage Hermione and disaffected son Ned Jnr, filled with knowledge that pretty much everything really sucks.
Interspersed with plot are transcripts from Atlantian news broadcasts, warning the public about threats that lie in wait for them at every turn. It’s frightening how believable these are, full of inaccuracy, double-speak, inconsistency, flawed premises, hyperbole and unquestioning assurance.
Rule No. 1 (from President Hedges' maxim that “people fear death”) is difficult to categorise. I wasn’t as engrossed as I was with Underground, but I can’t tell if that’s because I’ve hyped the latter in my memory, that it resonated more because it was Australian, due to my reading it first, or because it was a little less strident. In the absence of the influence of Underground, though, Rule No. 1 is strong, complex, powerful and important. It’s a shame that the people who would most benefit from reading it are the least likely to read it. Or perhaps, with the recent change in US government, that will no longer matter. - Alex
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