Beyond our control

"Beyond Our Control" by Randall Garrett is a science fiction novel written in the late 1950s. The story explores the consequences of a technological mishap involving artificial satellites that control global communication. The plot centers around Satellite Number Four, which is rendered inoperable after an encounter with an unidentified object, leading to a crisis that could affect the entire Earth. In the narrative, James Fitzpatrick MacIlheny, the Operational Vice-President of Circum-Global Communications, grapples with the sudden loss of the satellite. As he and his team scramble to regain control, they discover the satellite has altered its orbit after the incident. Ultimately, they confront an extraterrestrial spacecraft that seems to have caused the satellite's malfunction. The alien, through a series of misunderstood gestures, exchanges an H-bomb for one of their weapons, suggesting complex interstellar diplomacy. The book weaves themes of technological reliance and the potential for unexpected contact with alien life, ending on an optimistic note regarding mutual understanding and trade rather than conflict. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Gordon Randall Phillip David Garrett was an American science fiction and fantasy author. He was a contributor to Astounding and other science fiction magazines of the 1950s and 1960s. He instructed Robert Silverberg in the techniques of selling large quantities of action-adventure science fiction, and collaborated with him on two novels about men from Earth disrupting a peaceful agrarian civilization on an alien planet.