The Dosadi Experiment
Cover of the first edition
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| Author | Frank Herbert |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | ConSentient |
| Genre | Science fiction |
| Publisher | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
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Publication date
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1977 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 2837037 |
| 813/.5/4 | |
| LC Class | PZ4.H5356 Do PS3558.E63 |
| Preceded by | Whipping Star |
The Dosadi Experiment is a 1977 science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. It is the second full-length novel set in the ConSentiency universe established by Herbert in his novelette The Tactful Saboteur and continued in Whipping Star. It was first published as a four-part serial in Galaxy Science Fiction magazine from May to August, 1977.
The novel is set in a distant future when humans are part of an interstellar civilization called the ConSentiency composed of many species. One, the Taprisiots, provide instant mind-to-mind communication between two sentient minds anywhere in the universe, and the Caleban provide "jump-doors" (which allow instantaneous travel between any two points in the universe). This is the glue that holds the far-flung ConSentiency together. Unfortunately, one consequence of jump-door technology is the possibility that large numbers of unsuspecting sentients can be diverted to destinations unknown for nefarious purposes. A government saboteur attempts to expose one such plot.
Jorj X. McKie is a Saboteur Extraordinary, one of the principals of the Bureau of Sabotage, and the only human admitted to practice law before the Gowachin bar as a legum (lawyer). While meditating in a park in BuSab headquarters McKie is mentally contacted by the Caleban Fannie Mae, a female member of a species of unparalleled power from another dimension whose visible manifestation in this universe is the star Thyone in the Pleiades cluster.
Generations ago, a secret, unauthorized experiment by the Gowachins was carried out with the help of a contract with the Calebans. They isolated the planet Dosadi behind an impenetrable barrier called "The God Wall". On the planet were placed humans and Gowachin, with an odd mix of modern and old technology. The planet itself is massively poisonous except for a narrow valley, containing the city "Chu", into which nearly 89 million humans and Gowachin are crowded under terrible conditions. It is ruled by a dictator, many other forms of government having been tried previously, but without the ability to remove such things as the DemoPol, a computer system used to manipulate populaces without their consent or knowledge. The culture of ordinary day-to-day power in Dosadi is very violent. Among other tools, addictive psychotropes are used for handling power among hierarchies in organisations.
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