Exiles to Glory
OCLC 4163458 | | |
Preceded by | High Justice | |
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Followed by | Birth of Fire |
Exiles to Glory is a science fiction novella by American writer Jerry Pournelle, published in 1978. It is a sequel to the stories in the collection High Justice. As with those stories, it weaves the story of pioneering individuals in space with considerations of the technical and financial challenges facing them. It was republished in an omnibus edition with High Justice in 2009 as Exile—and Glory.
Despite being written and published after the landmark novel The Mote in God's Eye, which Pournelle co-authored with Larry Niven, the tone, style and themes of this novel are akin to a juvenile novel of the sort written by Robert A. Heinlein in the 1950s. Pournelle returns to his favorite themes of breakdown of the rule of law, the politics of entitlement and disdain for anti-technology activists.
This novel and the collection
Plot summary
An intelligent young misfit, Kevin Senecal, leaves Earth to escape various troubles, including a teen gang vendetta which the authorities will not act to stop, and bureaucratic interference in his studies for an engineering degree, in a culture where environmentalists and zero-growth advocates hold sway.
He enlists with the Hansen Corporation, a huge conglomerate which has re-located to the Moon, and is now involved in
Kevin falls in love with a mystery woman called Ellen MacMillan. Between them they deal with the consequences of sabotage of the ship by persons unknown, and find a way to effect the rendezvous at Ceres after the ship's computer is sabotaged. They use the expertise of Jacob Norsedal, a prototypical
At Ceres Ellen reveals herself to be an agent for Hansen investigating the mining work, which is plagued with irregularities. In particular, a new element called Arthurium is being mined on Ceres. This is a stable
In the story, the arthurium is a possible catalyst for
Ellen is actually Glenda Hansen-Mackenzie, daughter of Aeneas Mackenzie and Laurie Jo Hansen, owner of the Hansen Corporation. She can foil the plots if she can access the Ceres computer system. However, she, Kevin and Jacob are marooned on one of Ceres' small satellites by the enemy agents. They improvise a steam-jet rocket which lets them land back on Ceres and bring an end to the intrigue.
Uses of the name Glenda
The name "
External links
- Exiles to Glory title listing at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database