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Description

This is the story of John Huck, a bitter dishonorably discharged veteran of the war of independence of the space dwellers from the iron fisted government of earth. He returns to the earth ghetto where he was born to find that his parents had been killed in a riot. Now there is no longer any place for him. With revenge in mind he joins an underground group fighting the repressive government but is betrayed and arrested. Nonetheless, his sentence is commuted when he volunteers for an unknown project. Too late for regrets he learns that he and others like him have been shanghaied onto a one-way trip to a planet circling another star. And that is just the beginning of John Huck's story. In the early twenty-third century, earth's crisis of overpopulation and pollution have become critical. Much of the solar system is colonized, Mars and Venus have been terraformed, large groups of people live in artificial satellites and major cities on earth are decaying slums consisting of skyscraper-size buildings going to ruin. The war for the space dweller's independence is fought mainly in space. Just as an armistice is declared, the Earth space cruiser Nightingale is attacked by a Martian raider. Against orders not to return fire, the Nightingale's fire control officer, Lieutenant John Huck, destroys the enemy ship. As a result of this action, he is court martialed and dishonorably discharged. When he returns to his home in the worst ghetto of Federation City, he is recruited into a terrorist organization and falls in love with a beautiful young woman, Adele. A rival betrays him to the secret police and he is sentenced to death. While he awaits his fate, a government agent offers him a pardon if he will commit himself to a space project for twenty years. With many other prisoners he is taken aboard a starship piloted by the mad Captain Nimrod. Huck's friend Renault wants to start a rebellion. When one of the maintenance crew is injured, Huck becomes a member of the crew. On his first ETA, he is almost killed and learns that such accidents are common because the starship is in such terrible shape. He is hurt badly enough to be sent to sickbay where he falls in love with Sonja, his nurse. The ship has more problems than even Huck is aware of. The density of matter outside the ship has increased, there is a problem with the navigation computer and Captain Nimrod, the ship's commander is suicidal. When the colonists revolt, Huck fights alongside the crew against his former friends. Because of the damage and loss of personnel, conditions aboard the ship deteriorate further. All effort is placed on repairing damage. Huck convinces the officers to relieve the conditions that caused the riot and to have much needed repairs done. Sonja becomes pregnant but wants to abort the child. She becomes shrewish and distant. A catastrophe strikes the ship when it is struck by space debris. It is up to Huck to save the ship as Nimrod and other officers desert.

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