2 February, 2002
Code of Conduct
Kristine Smith
1999
346 pp. (PB)
Code of Conduct is the first in a series featuring Jani Killian, a woman who's spent the last eighteen years hiding from her past. The book is set at some point in the future (exactly how far is not clear), when humans have colonized other worlds and have come into contact with another intelligent species, the idomeni. Eighteen years ago, Killian was part of a mission sent to develop diplomatic relations with the idomeni government. The mission (unwisely) became involved in an idomeni civil war, and Killian's actions during that conflict led to her being 1) wanted by the human Commonwealth government for murder and treason, 2) wanted by at least a portion of idomeni society for the same, and-- fortunately for her-- 3) presumed dead in a shuttlecraft explosion that killed the rest of her company. She was, in fact, gravely injured in that explosion, but she got fixed up by a trio of shifty doctors from whom she escaped during the final chaos of the idomeni war.
Since then, Killian's been keeping a low profile on outer-colony worlds, trying to stay out of trouble. The humans and the idomeni have recently restarted official diplomatic relations. Enter Evan Van Reuter, high-profile government minister and member of a politically popwerful family. He was also Killian's lover back in the day, before she was "killed." There's a brewing scandal concerning the recent suspicious death of his wife, and Van Reuter's only hope is to find somebody to investigate the death, and clear him of any involvement. He needs somebody wholly unconnected with the web of politics surrounding him. Enter Jani Killian.
Code of Conduct actually has two plots. One is Killian's investigation of Lyssa Van Reuter's death. It's a by-the-numbers hard-boiled detective story, and doesn't contain many surprises for any reader with even a passing familiarity with that genre. It's competently done, but rather formulaic. The other plot, the sci-fi plot, is much more interesting, and is what makes this book worth reading. This plot revolves around the idomeni ambassador, Tsecha, and his ties to Killian. They'd worked together closely before the idomeni civil war, and he had plans to use her in a scheme to create human-idomeni hybrids. (Generally, I'd consider that a spoiler, but Avon-Eos put it on the back-cover blurb, so I'm not spoiling anything which hasn't already been spoiled.) Tsecha never thought Killian was dead, and has been waiting eighteen years for her to resurface. This nominally secondary storyline is actually an important background element to the investigation plot, intersecting it on both the personal level (Killian's background) and the political level (it's pretty clear that Tsecha is using his ambassadorial position to further his grand scheme).
The world Smith has created is an interesting one. There are many interesting applications of biology, and not only for traditional biological purposes, like medicine. A lot of the everyday technology-- stuff like computers and data-storage devices-- is biology-based. I think that we're going to start seeing a lot more of that sort of thing in science fiction, considering the relatively recent upswing in interest in biophysics and the like.
The idomeni, in my opinion, are a very well-constructed alien race. While they aren't extremely "alien" in physiology (that's kind of a prerequisite for the whole "hybridization" plot), they do seem rather alien in mindset. That's made very clear in the sections of the book told from an idomeni's point of view: even though he's the idomeni who knows the most about humans, he still has a very hard time understanding some of the simplest aspects of human thought and behavior. Similarly, even though the reader actually gets to read his thoughts, his motivations seem nigh-incomprehensible, sometimes. Unlike a lot of SF alien races, the idomeni are not a homogenous monoculture. They're divided into many clans, who have different philosophies, goals, and ways of life. If anything, they seem to be more diverse, culturally, than the humans. (That's only because we don't get to see a lot of the human society outside of the government, in this book. There are plenty of indications of conflicts and diversity among the humans.)
Although the investigation into Lyssa Van Reuter's death is wrapped up in this book, the larger questions of what, exactly, is Tsecha up to, what is Jani Killian's role in it, and what does it all mean for the future of humanity is left completely open. I guess I'll have to read the sequels to find out!