The Tachyon Web (Christopher Pike)

I kind of feel bad even writing a recap for this book because I’m honestly not really remembering a lot of it. It’s one of those books I avoided for years because I don’t really like the sci-fi Christopher Pike stuff. Then I started reading it and got through it really fast so I was impressed with myself. Then I started writing and had no clue what the fuck was going on. Just bare with me.

Eric is the main character of the book. His best friend Strem wants him to join a group for a spring break trip. Stream, his girlfriend Jeanie, their friend Sammy and his gal Cleo are all going to take Strem’s uncle’s ship out. They have to drop off some funky pants for him, but then they’ll have fun.

What Strem doesn’t tell them is that he actually wants to hyper jump over the tachyon web, which keeps everyone in safe space. The coolant levels in the ship drop off and they find themselves stranded. Luckily they find some video of an alien race, located on ships in the area. Cleo who does a lot of stage shows with her bands, makes up Eric and Strem to look like aliens and Sammy gives them an audio receiver that deciphers the language and lets them speak alien.

They sneak onto the ship, wander around and even eat lunch. Then Eric meets Vani and falls in love. Apparently Eric can’t get laid on their home planet and girls never even agree to a second date with him. Vabi’s home planet was blown up and she and her people escaped onto ships. They’re now trying to find a new place to visit, but Eric realizes that they won’t ever make it to a new location.

Vani agrees to show them the engine room, where they plan on stealing coolant. Eric learns from Sammy that their ship is close to blowing up, due to the lack of coolant. Strem goes off to get the coolant, letting Eric have time alone with Vani. He tries to get Strem to not use his gun on Vani’s people. He learns that his female friends snuck onto the ship and they, along with Strem, were taken hostage.

A group of Earth ships show up, lead by Rak. He tells Eric that they kept an eye on the ship the whole time, once it made the jump. Eric wants Rak to help the alien race get the technology needed to find a new home planet. They agree to the deal, but make Eric stay behind. Apparently he now knows too much and they can’t risk him taking back any knowledge to Earth. He agrees to stay behind with Vani.

Eric sneaks Vani a note and she manages to get it to Strem. In it, he tells him what actually happened at the meeting and that he can’t come back. Strem sends back one of his own, saying he wants to hear details about what happened with Vani. They make plans to meet one day for spring break on a far off planet. Eric starts making plans…