Lightless by C.A. Higgins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Ananke is a military research vessel on its way to Pluto for experimental purposes. The nature of the experiment is never explained, but we do learn that Ananke is special. A smallish vessel she only houses a three-person crew. Althea is the computer specialist and she's spent her career working on the Ananke. She loves the ship and her computer like it is her child. At first Althea's personality seems flat and undeveloped until the realization dawns that she's a computer savant who doesn't really know how to interact properly with other people only machines. To me, this explained why she reacted the way she did to the later events of the book.

Two unknown people with terrorist ties slip aboard. When one of the terrorists introduces a virus into the Ananke's systems, Althea's only concern is for the ship, instead of eating or sleeping she'd rather work on fixing the malfunctions. Imagine her surprise when she discovers the exact nature of the malfunction.

Meanwhile, one of the terrorists escapes while the other is held captive. Enter System official Ida. The System is the government who keeps watch over its citizens and punishes them for even minor wrongdoing. An incorrect response or facial expression is tantamount to insurrection. Ida's job is to interrogate the terrorist Ivanov. Ivanov is a fast-thinker and fast-talker with a gift for lying. But will he be good enough to stand up to the System? Is he good enough to convince Althea to defy everything she believes, turn her back on her crewmates and help him? The other characters are really only foils for Althea, Ivan, Ida and the Ananke. They aren't very well developed and they don't need to be.

As the story unfolds the malfunctioning gets worse, tensions mount, ultimatums are issued. While the first two-thirds of the story unfolds rather slowly the last third ramps up considerably. I've heard that this might be part of a trilogy so that's understandable, the author had to get all the background information out of the way. I both do and don't hope that it's a trilogy. While I want to know more, I also think that the ending was perfect on its own.

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