"'...Freya is a jerkwater planet on the very fringe of human civilization. We've hardly any spatial traffic, except the League merchant ships, and they never stay long in port.'" (pp. 564-565)
A century ago, the Freyans expelled some outlaws whom they call "Adderkops." These outlaws have settled a planet somewhere beyond Valhalla, Freya's sun. They have increased the number of their warships. How, on a newly settled planet? Freya is too strong for them to raid and has no space traffic for them to attack so the Freyans are unconcerned about the Adderkops. However, they attack other planets, extract tribute and conduct overpriced trade. The Polesotechnic League wants to expand in this direction and would put a stop to Adderkop activities so the Adderkops try to discourage the League by harassing their outposts. Van Rijn visits the League base on Freya, interrogates prisoners and gets some clues. His ship, the Hebe G.B., picks up a neutrino trail and locates a human-colonized planet, almost certainly Adderkops. Attacked by their warships, the Hebe G.B. escapes but damaged and unable to return to Freya. Sought by the Adderkops, the Hebe G.B. tries to find one of the three or four other intelligent species believed to possess the hyperdrive in this vast spatial volume.
1 comment:
Kaor, Paul!
Perhaps this was a bit too compressed by Anderson, what he said about the Adderkops? Even with advanced technology they might have needed another century for them to become the threat they became.
Ad astra! Sean
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