In The Garden of Iden
| Author | Kage Baker |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Michael Koelsch |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | The Company |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | Harcourt |
|
Publication date
|
1997 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover) |
| Pages | 329 pp |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 37107094 |
| 813/.54 21 | |
| LC Class | PS3552.A4313 I5 1997 |
| Followed by | Sky Coyote |
In the Garden of Iden is a 1997 science fiction novel by Kage Baker. Although it is set entirely in the 16th century, in Spain and England, it is a science fiction story revolving around the activities of a group of immortal cyborgs, individuals who appear human but have been transformed by high technology.
Mendoza is a cyborg, who, like others of her kind, has been rescued from certain death as a small child and turned into an immortal machine, then made to work for "The Company". She loves her work and hates 'mortals'. All that changes when, on her first mission, she encounters love and learns the terrible price she has paid to live forever.
This novel is the first in a series about "The Company" and its servants, human and otherwise. The series continues with Sky Coyote, Mendoza in Hollywood, The Graveyard Game, and The Life of the World to Come. The collection Black Projects, White Knights consists of Company stories, and there are allusions in the collection Mother Ægypt and Other Stories.
The story is told by Mendoza, a cyborg botanist. In the introduction, she describes a 24th-century organization called Dr. Zeus Inc., or simply "The Company". The Company has the secrets of immortality and time travel. Unfortunately the immortality treatment can only be used on young children; and time travel is difficult, expensive, and only possible when going into the past and returning to your own time. History cannot be changed.
Dr. Zeus uses the technology simply to get rich. By travelling far into prehistory, the company creates its own immortal cyborg agents, who then have the mission of preserving cultural artifacts and other valuable items for sale in the 24th century. Usually these items are hidden in safe places, but in the case of extinct species, for instance, they are kept in secret Company caches run by the cyborgs. In the 24th century the Company then 'finds' the long-lost objects and sells them.
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