
OH NO! HUMANS FROM EARTH! Late in the 21st century nuclear war once again loomed on the horizon. And this time there would be no escape. But an American probe has discovered a second life-bearing planet waiting with open biosphere for refugees from Earth; so that freedom, and the human race itself, shall not perish from the universe, the Americans launch a crash project to colonize Chiron. There's only one problem: the science and engineering of the time are not up to the task of transporting living humans between star systems. The answer: send a "colony" of frozen sperm and ova, and use robots to quicken them at the other end. Then use humanlike robots to raise the resulting children. Amazingly, it works. The children and their children's children are happy, healthy, and steeped in the ideals of America's Founders. They are everything their home-planet sponsors could have hoped for except that they really mean it about all that liberty stuff. But now the Earthmen have had their war, survived, rebuilt and come to Chiron in new fast ships. They're the government. They've come to help. But the damned Colonials have such an attitude.
A clash of ideologies erupts when the descendants of a robotic-nurtured colony on Chiron encounter the authoritarian survivors of a post-nuclear Earth. The protagonist, representing the established colonial society, must defend their hard-won autonomy against the encroaching influence of the Earth government. The narrative explores the logical consequences of a society raised on the ideals of the American Founders, contrasting their radical commitment to liberty with the bureaucratic control exerted by the arriving Earth ships. The story unfolds through a third-person perspective that emphasizes the technological and philosophical divide between the two human factions.
Readers frequently highlight the book's focus on political philosophy and the practical implementation of libertarian principles within a science fiction framework. Discussion often centers on the tension between the colonial society's rigid adherence to founding ideals and the pragmatic, often cynical, approach of the Earth government. Critics note that the pacing prioritizes ideological debate and world-building over traditional action sequences. The work is often cited for its exploration of how a society might evolve when isolated from the historical baggage of its origin planet. Many readers appreciate the logical consistency of the technological premise regarding the colony's inception.
Page Count:
384
Publication Date:
1984-01-01
Publisher:
Ballantine
ISBN-10:
014007094X
ISBN-13:
9780140070941
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