sdlotu
11/10/2021
Be sure to read the first in this series (The Black Star Passes) before reading this. The story can stand as an independent work if you don't care about the way things started and why, or what some of the materials and concepts are.
The three supergeniuses are now four: Arcot, Morey, Fuller and Wade. Sounds more like an accounting firm than a collective of scientific geniuses. All the same, the fioremost is Arcot, who regulary and frequently has relovutionary ideas which are implemented in days or weeks, such as supra-luminal travel at little or no cost in fuel
But on to the plot. Our four intrepid geniuses discover and build FTL drives, go screaming out of the galaxy, lose their way and select another random galaxy to see if they can find someone to help them get home.
Along the way, our lead super genius develops and trains others in telepathic communication, nicely avoiding the problem of language for the rest of the novel.
By the greatest good fortune, they find an inhabited solar system (with both friendly and unfriendly populations) and proceed to resolve the interplanetary conflict with their telepathy, FTL ship and military technology developed in the previous book.
The story of the alien cultures and their makeup, attitudes and interactions with our protagonists is fairly interesting.