Cowl (novel)

Cowl
UK cover of Cowl
Author(s)	Neal Asher
Country	Great Britain
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science fiction novel
Publisher	Tor Books
Publication date	2004
Media type	Print (Hardcover & Paperback)
Pages	422 pp
ISBN	0-7653-5279-6
OCLC Number	66908092

Cowl is a 2004 science fiction novel by Neal Asher. It tells of an epic time war between two factions from the 43rd century.

Plot introduction

Setting

Time travel is a reality with the exception to more common theories that there is only one main time line. Whenever a time line is distorted a parallel universe is created that branches off. The more the sub branch differs the more energy is required to travel back to the main time line. Getting stuck in an alternative universe without the required energy to return is the fear of every time traveler.

Plot summary

The story focuses on Cowl, who was genetically engineered to be the pinnacle of human evolution but is now the nemesis of the Heliothane Dominion, the ruling body of humanity. The Heliothanes have genetically enhanced themselves to the point where they can barely be called normal humans anymore, being dramatically faster and stronger. Leading another branch of evolved humanity, the Umbrathanes, Cowl blows up Callisto and uses the energy released to fuel a time journey two billion years into the past. Upon discovering no living life on Earth, Cowl believes that he must avoid an omission paradox (that is, a failure to perform an act that would lead to the creation of life) and jumpstart the development of life. All the while he is waging war on the Heliothanes and trying to push them down a 'Probability Slope' so they will be unable to travel through time and leave him and his new empire at the top of the slope.

Cowl uses his Torbeast, sending it travelling through time dropping its scales. Each scale is a self-contained organic time machine that bonds to a human dragging them back through time to Cowl as a sample. He uses these human samples to monitor the effect he is making on the future to conduct his research. Once tested, the human is of no use to Cowl and is dumped; left to die in the poisonous atmosphere of Earth's ancient past.

In the twenty second century, a prostitute named Polly is pulled into a scheme against the ruling government, U-Gov by a soldier, Nandra, who's squad was slaughtered by the tor beast for being near the tor it dropped. Nandra implants Polly with his military AI, his 'muse', and forces her to assist U-Gov agent, Tack, who is a cloned agent in arranging a transaction, a large sum of money for the tor. The transaction goes off, but then Nandra tricks Tack's team and Polly accidentally is bonded to the Tor, along with Tack, who is dragged through time with her, gaining a tor of his own. Tack is captured by Saphothere, a Heliothane who forces him to assist him in fighting against Cowl while Polly is sent through history back towards Cowl, with Nandra now stuck in the Muse AI, guiding her along the way.

Soon, Tack is enhanced to be the physical equal of any Heliothane and is sent back in time to assassinate Cowl-but is expected to fail and die. Tack arrives, planning to plant tactical nuclear devices to destroy Cowl's citadel, but is captured by Cowl and tossed into the ocean to die. He is saved by Cowl's sister, Aconite, who saves other Tor bearers-including Polly, a Roman centurion, a Chinese thief, a feral boy ,and a Neanderthal. Tack is healed from the crippling injuries given to him by Cowl, who uses knowledge he absorbed from Tack's mind to destroy the Heliothane City Sauros after bypassing its defences and prepares to send the torbeast to destroy the city of New London and then the Heliothane's solar colonies, killing billions. Cowl then sends his Umbrathanes to the structure Aconite lives in to capture Tack, but he and Polly have left the building and exchanged in a brief romantic moment with a kiss - a result of Tack being freed of his U-Gov programming and regretting his past actions and his apologizing to Polly for trying to kill her in the 22nd century.

The Umbrathanes kill the Neanderthal, Ygrol, by bashing his head open with his own club after shooting the Feral Boy, named LostBoy in the head, killing him. Then the Roman centurion, Tacitus manages to kill one Umbrathane by surprising him, stabbing him through the heart with his Gladius, only to be critically wounded while the Chinese man, Cheng-yi is killed using Tacitus' very weapon. Aconite is taken before Tack and Polly return and dispatch the two Umbrathane left behind. They save Tacitus' life and go to save Aconite.

Meanwhile, three Heliothane: Saphothere, Meelan (a former Umbrathane who is out to avenge the Umbrathane needlessly killed on Callisto), and Coptic, who are shown many times in the book manage to reach Cowl's time, intent on eliminating him. They attack Cowl, who is left unable to manipulate time and create copies of himself - the method he used to defeat Tack and kill many Umbrathanes, but Meelan and Coptic are killed in the fight. At the same time, Tack and Polly infiltrate the citadel and save Aconite while Saphothere stays to finish off Cowl. They escape on a wasp like robot while Saphothere executes the wounded Cowl despite his pleas that they could eventually overcome how far they have been pushed down the probability slope. Saphothere then waits for the Umbrathanes in the citadel to arrive and kill him.

Meanwhile, the others have escaped the effects of the paradox in Aconite's home. In the future, the Torbeast is trapped in a wormhole and what few pieces of it that get out are destroyed by Heliothane warships over New London.

The survivors of Sauros are stranded and unable to return to their time except for using three 'Manitsols', creatures capable of time travel to return what few of them they can to the present time in the hopes of being rescued. Aconite arrives and offers them a chance to return to New London, or an 'alternative'. The book ends with Tack and Polly appearing in the 22nd century, a mere week after the beginning of the book to establish a base on the orders of Aconite.

External links

• Cowl publication history at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
• Review