HEADS

Slender illustrated science-fiction novella (it first appeared last year in Britain) from the author of Eon, Blood Music, Queen of Angels, etc. In the 22nd century, the Moon is inhabited by extended industrial-economic families. Young narrator Mickey Sandoval's brother-in-law William wins a contract to do research at absolute zero. William's facility offers plenty of spare cooling capacity, so Mickey's sister Rho buys 410 cryogenically preserved heads from Earth, intending to scan the heads for historical information—indeed, two of the heads belong to the founders of the Sandoval family. Then Mickey, selected to boss the project, runs into unexpected political opposition over the heads from the Moon's ruling council. Why? Well, the councilors belong to a weird space-age cult cooked up by a certain K.D. Thierry. And—readers will guess at once, though Mickey takes forever—one of the 410 heads belongs to Thierry. The cult, which doesn't care to have its fraudulent secrets exposed, eventually will attempt to blow up the heads (and William's experiments at absolute zero), resulting in an eerie psychic meltdown that gobbles up William and Rho and most of the heads too. Wonderfully inventive, but with flabby patches even at this restricted length. The irritatingly stupid narrator doesn't help.