Skip to main content

story identification - Book about a group of escaped prisoners with tattooed faces


I recall that it might have been the second book of a series. It takes place in the future - not sure if in our universe - and there are robots who kill for the government (I think).


Story of a group of escapees from a prison that go to a massive ship and start a community.


The prisoners have tattooed faces.


I remember more the characters:



  • A lady that absorbs people and becomes them.

  • A young girl who is a genius but has to be pregnant to be balanced.


  • Two people from the prison they kidnapped and took with them.


Also I remember they terraformed the inside of their ship.



Answer



That would be Jack Chalker's 'The Rings of the Master' series.



  • They are lead by a (fairly) young Amerind man who goes by 'Hawks.'

  • The young lady is actually a creature (who goes by Vulture) created to be able to mimic DNA and thus bypass their security. ("A being who could beat the system at will. Become anyone it wished. Sail through security ports, passing every test—memory, retinal prints, even blood and tissue samples. Gain the full knowledge of whomever it imitated and therefore have full access to anyplace human beings could go.")

  • The young girl who must be pregnant (and is blind, in fact) is Song China (or the name she adopts, China Nightingale), a genius, who is saddled with that status to achieve some control over her. (She's the daughter of a high official who basically imposed this on her for being disobedient.)

  • The "two people from the prison" could be the Chow sisters (Chow Dai and Chow Mai) who are geniuses in their own right, at least when it comes to bypassing Security systems, if you are referring to the initial prison. They grab/liberate Raven (another Amerind that Hawks knew) and Warlock later, at the prison Melkior, as I recall. In addition, one of the lead scientists, Clayben, comes to join them in book 2.



They are tattooed by a process that is used to basically rebuild people; it can only be done ONCE on almost any being (or, more to the point, on any specific part of a being), so the tattoos are done at skin level, but basically become irreversible.


They all end up stealing a ship; the ship's computer, Star Eagle, becomes part of the team, not to mention developing a very close relationship with China, as she uses a mental interface with the ship to somewhat get past her blindness. They then steal a bigger ship (a Colony ship, basically) from a mothballed fleet, install Star Eagle into it, and go on a quest to retrieve the Rings from various planets where they are held, thence to return and shut off the Master System that is controlling humanity. They do make the inside of the ship into a mimicry of various home environments. Given the volume such a ship is meant to hold, they have all the space they could want.


They also are pursued by Robotic creatures called "Vals" (after Jean Valjean from Les Miserables) that are imprinted with the last recorded memory of the person they are pursuing.


Great books. :)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more

game of thrones - Is Syrio Forel dead?

In the episode 'The Pointy End' (Season 1 Episode 8) when Arya runs from the Lannister guards you hear the sound of a sword being dropped (around 4:56): [embedded content] After that neither Syrio or Ser Meryn Trant is never mentioned or seen in the show again, except when Arya mentions to the Hound that Ser Meryn Trant killed Syrio. Is there any mention in the books that Syrio actually dies?
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Difference between elves and dwarves blacksmithing in the Lord of the Rings

Both the elves and the dwarves were famous for their metal work in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, but what is the difference between what they made, and which one had the better skill of making amours and swords? Answer James Christopher's answer sums up the second part of your question well, but as to the difference in what they made, a little more detail is needed. Once the Elves learned to forge with steel, the shape of the sword changed, now being able to take on the form of a great broadsword or a light and agile curved sword. Additionally, they took great pride in decorating their swords. As we see in the Lord of the Rings , some swords like Sting had magical properties such as glowing blue when orcs are near. As far as the use of Mithril, lotr.wikia has two contradictory passages: Thus, Elven blades became renowned as great weapons, capable of performing deeds beyond the skill of their handlers and were even more glorious when the use of Mithril was allowed to the Elves. ...
Post a Comment
Read more