Helpful Score: 2
Another entry in McCaffrey's Brain/Brawn series that began with "The Ship Who Sang (1969)" and continued by McCaffrey with various collaborators. The Brain here is Carialle, a bodiless human wired into spaceship SSS-900; the Brawn is supplied by Carialle's human partner, Keff. Explorers Carialle and Keff hope to achieve alien contact. Unfortunately, they also need to make discoveries that generate money and kudos: Cencom might not renew their contract, since a prior unpleasant experience has left Carialle psychologically vulnerable to bureaucratic shutdown. On the chilly planet Ozran they discover a population of furry humanoids ruled by irascible and arrogant "wizards" wielding what apparently are magic powers. The wizards take Keff captive but do not immediately learn of Carialle's existence. Keff is aided by Plennafrey, a young, beautiful, and rebellious wizard, and the more powerful Chaumel, who is at least willing to listen. In the meantime, Carialle, has discovered that the source of the wizards' power is a projector called the core of Ozran, set up ages ago by one of two long- vanished, unknown advanced alien races. The Core was designed to function as a weather control device for cultivating food resources. However the wizards learned how to use that power their magic, but, unknown to the wizards, their use of this power has doomed the planet to a slow, cold extinction. Only Carialle discovers that the lowliest regarded life-form found in the swamps of their planet, the ubiquitous globe-frogs, are actually the previous masters of Ozran. Only through the globe-frogs' intervention in maintaining Ozran's power source will Ozran escape certain death. Carialle learns that the globe-frogs are willing to help on the condition that the wizards cease their bickering and unlimited use of Ozran's power source. It is the unlimited use of this "power" that is bringing certain death to their planet. Bright and bubbly entertainment, though, despite the adult content, decidedly juvenile in style and tone; therefore more likely to appeal to the younger sections of McCaffrey's audience.
