When the aliens arrive, Johnson Mukerjii’s plans to
launch a holographic display are scuttled by the sudden influx of advanced
technology and an uncertain future. In
First Contract, Greg Costikyan outlines Mukerjii’s fall from the
arena of American industry and rise in the realm of interstellar commerce.
First Contract is a satire of the business
world, attempting to explain how finance works and why it frequently is
counter-intuitive. Costikyan
describes it in terms which highlight its ludicrousness without actually
condemning the system or attempting to suggest a better way.
Mukerjii must build a business from scratch, having experts explain
the different parts of the process to him.
Since he has already gone through the process once before, it is
strange that he has such a slight understanding, but that can be attributed
to the different circumstances he was in.
The business world forms the background to the novel.
The aliens who appear are mere window dressing.
There is nothing particularly alien about any of the races except
their physical appearance. Their
purpose in the book seems to be simply to instigate a massive crash of
Earth’s financial and business institutions, thereby giving Costikyan the
opportunity to demonstrate how somebody with absolutely nothing can manage
to build a successful company.
All of the aliens would fit in to the American business
model, although the zdeg, who run the largest outlet in the galactic
sector have a limited acceptance of the idea of limited liability.
One of the things Costikyan uses them for, beyond the crash is to
take business practices to their illogical extreme, thereby spotlighting how
illogical they are. This
primarily occurs in the final chapters of the novel when Mukerjii and his
associates travel to an interstellar trade show.
Mukerjii never becomes a sympathetic character,
although neither is he a vile character.
In fact, few of the characters manage to insinuate themselves into
the reader’s emotions. Mukerjii
uses fraud throughout the book while Leander Huff, one of his antagonistic
backers gives every indication of being a racist.
Characters who are sympathetic, such as Mukerjii’s CIO David
Greenblatt, are quickly shuttled off stage after Mukerjii takes advantage of
them.
Mukerjii is more an anti-hero than a hero.
His concerns are focused narrowly on his own well-being, and even
there he defines his well-being in terms of wealth and ownership.
Even when he is reduced to homelessness, he takes pride in his
education and ability to cook food which is above the norm for the
situation. Nevertheless, he
sneers at his fellow homeless because they don’t (appear to) see anything
wrong with eating cat food when nothing else is available.
Mukerjii’s personal values are brought into as much question as the
business ethics which Costikyan satirizes.
First Contract
is a well-written, clear and enjoyable book which explains business
concepts. It fails in being a
great book because it does not make any palliative suggestions for the
situations it describes, nor does it deem to pass judgment on those
situations. Costikyan is merely
pointing to them saying, “Look, aren’t those customs funny,” without
examining why they have arisen.
