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Zarathustra Refugee Planets #3
The Repairmen of Cyclops
When the star Zarathustra went nova, the desperate survivors spread out in all directions. Those that found habitable worlds were few and after hundreds of years the Zarathustra Refugee Planets were either forgotten or in quarantine. On Cyclops, an advanced world, an ominous political crisis had developed which threatened to oust the Corps Galactica. Something horribly improper was going on. . . something involving its corps of medical wizards. . . something that might have to do with an undiscovered Zarathustra planet. Gus Langenschmidt's job was to save the Corps base on Cyclops. But it proved to be a life-and-death task on a multi-planet scale.
159 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1965
About the author
John Brunner
561 books494 followersJohn Brunner was born in Preston Crowmarsh, near Wallingford in Oxfordshire, and went to school at St Andrew's Prep School, Pangbourne, then to Cheltenham College. He wrote his first novel, Galactic Storm, at 17, and published it under the pen-name Gill Hunt, but he did not start writing full-time until 1958. He served as an officer in the Royal Air Force from 1953 to 1955, and married Marjorie Rosamond Sauer on 12 July 1958
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
At the beginning of his writing career Brunner wrote conventional space opera pulp science fiction. Brunner later began to experiment with the novel form. His 1968 novel "Stand on Zanzibar" exploits the fragmented organizational style John Dos Passos invented for his USA trilogy, but updates it in terms of the theory of media popularised by Marshall McLuhan.
"The Jagged Orbit" (1969) is set in a United States dominated by weapons proliferation and interracial violence, and has 100 numbered chapters varying in length from a single syllable to several pages in length. "The Sheep Look Up" (1972) depicts ecological catastrophe in America. Brunner is credited with coining the term "worm" and predicting the emergence of computer viruses in his 1975 novel "The Shockwave Rider", in which he used the term to describe software which reproduces itself across a computer network. Together with "Stand on Zanzibar", these novels have been called the "Club of Rome Quartet", named after the Club of Rome whose 1972 report The Limits to Growth warned of the dire effects of overpopulation.
Brunner's pen names include K. H. Brunner, Gill Hunt, John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Ellis Quick, Henry Crosstrees Jr., and Keith Woodcott.
In addition to his fiction, Brunner wrote poetry and many unpaid articles in a variety of publications, particularly fanzines, but also 13 letters to the New Scientist and an article about the educational relevance of science fiction in Physics Education. Brunner was an active member of the organisation Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and wrote the words to "The H-Bomb's Thunder", which was sung on the Aldermaston Marches.
Brunner had an uneasy relationship with British new wave writers, who often considered him too American in his settings and themes. He attempted to shift to a more mainstream readership in the early 1980s, without success. Before his death, most of his books had fallen out of print. Brunner accused publishers of a conspiracy against him, although he was difficult to deal with (his wife had handled his publishing relations before she died).[2]
Brunner's health began to decline in the 1980s and worsened with the death of his wife in 1986. He remarried, to Li Yi Tan, on 27 September 1991. He died of a heart attack in Glasgow on 25 August 1995, while attending the World Science Fiction Convention there
aka
K H Brunner, Henry Crosstrees Jr, Gill Hunt (with Dennis Hughes and E C Tubb), John Loxmith, Trevor Staines, Keith Woodcott
Winner of the ESFS Awards in 1980 as "Best Author" and 1n 1984 as "Novelist"..
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
December 19, 2021
Last story of the Zarathustra series.
This story brings back a few characters from the first novel of the series, The Avengers of Carrig, but reading that book or the second is not required as this is a stand-alone story. In this book the Corps Galactica is still searching for and trying to enforce a non-interference policy for the worlds populated by crash-landed survivors of the Zarathustra nova. The inhabitants of a planet called Cyclops have different ideas and are running an illicit organ-legging ring that's kidnapping primitives from one of the Zarathustra worlds and using their bodies for spare parts. The Corps has to repair this breach of criminal and diplomatic norms.
Like the other Zarathustra books, it's not the best but it is a reasonably entertaining read.
This story brings back a few characters from the first novel of the series, The Avengers of Carrig, but reading that book or the second is not required as this is a stand-alone story. In this book the Corps Galactica is still searching for and trying to enforce a non-interference policy for the worlds populated by crash-landed survivors of the Zarathustra nova. The inhabitants of a planet called Cyclops have different ideas and are running an illicit organ-legging ring that's kidnapping primitives from one of the Zarathustra worlds and using their bodies for spare parts. The Corps has to repair this breach of criminal and diplomatic norms.
Like the other Zarathustra books, it's not the best but it is a reasonably entertaining read.
August 3, 2019
Science Fiction, first published 1965
John Brunner hat hier unübersehbar große soziale und ethische Anliegen. Gerechtigkeit und Menschenwürde... die Ächtung von Ausbeutung, Imperialismus, Korruption und Egoismus... für einen Science-Fiction-Roman der 60er Jahre ist das außergewöhnlich.
Die Nichteinmischungspolitik des "Corps Galactica" erinnert an die Erste Direktive von Star Fleet. Star Trek wurde erst ab 1966 (in Großbritannien 1969) ausgestrahlt - kann also keine Inspiration gewesen sein. Außerdem setzt sich Captain Kirk bekanntlich oft und gern darüber hinweg. Brunner meint es äußerst ernst und hat vermutlich die katastrophalen politischen, sozialen und ökologischen Folgen der europäischen Kolonialherrschaften vor Augen...
"What they fail to understand - I say - is that Earth-type luxury isn't the perfect human way of life. They want to impose it as a standard everywhere, whether or not the recipients enjoy the cultures they have at present, whether or not these cultures are productive, creative ones."
Auf dem Planeten Cyclops leben 80% der Bevölkerung in äußerster Armut und mittelalterlichen Lebensverhältnissen, während die Oberschicht schamlos und selbstverständlich alle Annehmlichkeiten des Raumfahrtzeitalters genießt. Brunner prangert an, wie Macht und Reichtum korrumpieren und gewissenlos machen... die Mechanismen sind altbekannt, finden in den ehemaligen Kolonialstaaten noch immer statt und - in abgemilderter Form - auch in den Industriestaaten mit ihren superreichen Milliardären und gewissenlos profitmaximierenden globalen Konzernen.
"...they do seem to be typical of those who get power, get influence, get wealth simply because they desire them so greedily. Truly civilised people don't crave power. They have - what would one call it? - empathy, perhaps, which holds them back."
Obwohl manches aus dramaturgischen Gründen übertrieben wird, fühlt sich der Roman beunruhigend authentisch und "irdisch" an. "The Repairmen of Cyclops" ist nicht nur eine spannende, unterhaltsame Science-Fiction-Geschichte, sondern auch gut verarbeitete Gesellschaftskritik.
John Brunner hat hier unübersehbar große soziale und ethische Anliegen. Gerechtigkeit und Menschenwürde... die Ächtung von Ausbeutung, Imperialismus, Korruption und Egoismus... für einen Science-Fiction-Roman der 60er Jahre ist das außergewöhnlich.
Die Nichteinmischungspolitik des "Corps Galactica" erinnert an die Erste Direktive von Star Fleet. Star Trek wurde erst ab 1966 (in Großbritannien 1969) ausgestrahlt - kann also keine Inspiration gewesen sein. Außerdem setzt sich Captain Kirk bekanntlich oft und gern darüber hinweg. Brunner meint es äußerst ernst und hat vermutlich die katastrophalen politischen, sozialen und ökologischen Folgen der europäischen Kolonialherrschaften vor Augen...
"What they fail to understand - I say - is that Earth-type luxury isn't the perfect human way of life. They want to impose it as a standard everywhere, whether or not the recipients enjoy the cultures they have at present, whether or not these cultures are productive, creative ones."
Auf dem Planeten Cyclops leben 80% der Bevölkerung in äußerster Armut und mittelalterlichen Lebensverhältnissen, während die Oberschicht schamlos und selbstverständlich alle Annehmlichkeiten des Raumfahrtzeitalters genießt. Brunner prangert an, wie Macht und Reichtum korrumpieren und gewissenlos machen... die Mechanismen sind altbekannt, finden in den ehemaligen Kolonialstaaten noch immer statt und - in abgemilderter Form - auch in den Industriestaaten mit ihren superreichen Milliardären und gewissenlos profitmaximierenden globalen Konzernen.
"...they do seem to be typical of those who get power, get influence, get wealth simply because they desire them so greedily. Truly civilised people don't crave power. They have - what would one call it? - empathy, perhaps, which holds them back."
Obwohl manches aus dramaturgischen Gründen übertrieben wird, fühlt sich der Roman beunruhigend authentisch und "irdisch" an. "The Repairmen of Cyclops" ist nicht nur eine spannende, unterhaltsame Science-Fiction-Geschichte, sondern auch gut verarbeitete Gesellschaftskritik.
January 6, 2012
One of the most interesting sci-fi novels. I recommend it to anyone.
April 11, 2018
Despite the average ratings, I actually liked "The Avengers of Carrig" way more than this book. This story takes place about 20 years after the other and tells about the events on the planet of Cyclops. The previous book was more survival and action oriented, but this one is a little more detective and political in orientation. Overall it's a pretty good story concerning a hidden planet of Zarathustra refugees and a group of people that use them to harvest organs for profit.
January 24, 2020
The third Zarathustra novel, but can definitely be read standalone. There are a couple of references [I assume] to Avengers of Carrig, but that was twenty years ago.
I guess you classify this as space opera. The POV especially in the early chapters keeps changing. Kolb is addicted to danger and hunts a wolfshark. Maddallena finished her twenty year stint on a backwater planet, she is on her way to vacation when she gets orders to report to Cyclops. Alura Quist is the Cyclopean leader and is pushing for the Corps to rid themselves of the non-interference policy and give aid to the Zarathustra refugees. Bracy Dyge, a seventeen year old fisherman, parents dead, is now his family's provider who happens to be near Kolb's hunt. Soraya's mother is ill. She is urged to take her to the Receivers, who sometimes take care of people and pay the relatives. It's not readily apparent that Soraya is on a different planet until she is put on a ship.
There are advances in medical technology, e.g. people who serve in the Corps are entitled to longevity treatments when they retire. There is talk of limb regeneration, but that type of thing is expensive and a poor planet like Cyclops doesn't have that available.
Decent enough story, the second half of the book zipped along after the characters and plot had been introduced. Justin Kolb gets a long introduction in the first chapter, but after that he's just a pawn. He was alone when fishing, we hear his thoughts, but he may not have had any dialog the entire book. Bracy had an adventure which we only heard when he told Maddalena that would have been more interesting than learning how Kolb loved danger. Three and a half, maybe four stars out of five. I read Polymath (Zarathustra #2) in 1985 and remember, not the plot, but that it was fantastic with the protagonist using his wits and being clever.
I guess you classify this as space opera. The POV especially in the early chapters keeps changing. Kolb is addicted to danger and hunts a wolfshark. Maddallena finished her twenty year stint on a backwater planet, she is on her way to vacation when she gets orders to report to Cyclops. Alura Quist is the Cyclopean leader and is pushing for the Corps to rid themselves of the non-interference policy and give aid to the Zarathustra refugees. Bracy Dyge, a seventeen year old fisherman, parents dead, is now his family's provider who happens to be near Kolb's hunt. Soraya's mother is ill. She is urged to take her to the Receivers, who sometimes take care of people and pay the relatives. It's not readily apparent that Soraya is on a different planet until she is put on a ship.
There are advances in medical technology, e.g. people who serve in the Corps are entitled to longevity treatments when they retire. There is talk of limb regeneration, but that type of thing is expensive and a poor planet like Cyclops doesn't have that available.
Decent enough story, the second half of the book zipped along after the characters and plot had been introduced. Justin Kolb gets a long introduction in the first chapter, but after that he's just a pawn. He was alone when fishing, we hear his thoughts, but he may not have had any dialog the entire book. Bracy had an adventure which we only heard when he told Maddalena that would have been more interesting than learning how Kolb loved danger. Three and a half, maybe four stars out of five. I read Polymath (Zarathustra #2) in 1985 and remember, not the plot, but that it was fantastic with the protagonist using his wits and being clever.
June 26, 2023
Mi-a plăcut.
Traducerea a fost ok.
După 20 de ani de la evenimentele din „The Avengers of Carrig”, refugiații de pe Cyclops caută să-și spele imaginea și să forțeze adoptarea unor schimbări în politica galactică. Totul pare să meargă conform planului, până când un accident al amantului conducătoarei planetei scoate la lumină un secret terifiant.
Deși e cel mai complex ca acțiune dintre cele trei romane ale „Victimelor Novei”, volumul de față mi-a plăcut ceva mai puțin decât celelalte. Poate pentru că-i lipsește exotismul cadrelor unde se desfășura acțiunea lor. Aici e prezent doar în partea de început, apoi accentul virează spre zona intrigilor politice.
E o carte ok,, știința din ea a ajuns să fie un pic depășită (lucru destul de obișnuit la scrierile lui Brunner), se ridică niște probleme morale interesante (pentru mine) - în orice caz, mult mai interesante decât problemele morale pe care le scot pe tapet unele SF/F/YA-uri premiate din ziua de azi. Deoarece elementul central al poveștii este unul de dezlegare a unor enigme, iar eu am prostul obicei să-mi amintesc bucăți de intrigă pe măsură ce recitesc o carte (chiar citită în urmă cu mult timp), impactul textului asupra mea a fost semnificativ diminuat la această a doua lectură făcută după câteva decenii. De aceea am oscilat între 2 stele (a fost ok) și 3 stele (mi-a plăcut). Dar am decis să merg pe ultima, pentru că, per ansamblu, „Victimele novei” a constituit o (re)lectură agreabilă.
Traducerea a fost ok.
După 20 de ani de la evenimentele din „The Avengers of Carrig”, refugiații de pe Cyclops caută să-și spele imaginea și să forțeze adoptarea unor schimbări în politica galactică. Totul pare să meargă conform planului, până când un accident al amantului conducătoarei planetei scoate la lumină un secret terifiant.
Deși e cel mai complex ca acțiune dintre cele trei romane ale „Victimelor Novei”, volumul de față mi-a plăcut ceva mai puțin decât celelalte. Poate pentru că-i lipsește exotismul cadrelor unde se desfășura acțiunea lor. Aici e prezent doar în partea de început, apoi accentul virează spre zona intrigilor politice.
E o carte ok,, știința din ea a ajuns să fie un pic depășită (lucru destul de obișnuit la scrierile lui Brunner), se ridică niște probleme morale interesante (pentru mine) - în orice caz, mult mai interesante decât problemele morale pe care le scot pe tapet unele SF/F/YA-uri premiate din ziua de azi. Deoarece elementul central al poveștii este unul de dezlegare a unor enigme, iar eu am prostul obicei să-mi amintesc bucăți de intrigă pe măsură ce recitesc o carte (chiar citită în urmă cu mult timp), impactul textului asupra mea a fost semnificativ diminuat la această a doua lectură făcută după câteva decenii. De aceea am oscilat între 2 stele (a fost ok) și 3 stele (mi-a plăcut). Dar am decis să merg pe ultima, pentru că, per ansamblu, „Victimele novei” a constituit o (re)lectură agreabilă.
July 3, 2023
Planetary leaders, unscrupulous in their own dealings, engage in interplanetary politics with a sort of galactic watchdog agency. Wolfsharks, organ harvesting, and a midnight raid on the villain's home base all figure prominently. The characters are fun to follow, with plenty of action. The distinction between good guys and bad guys is distinct enough to satisfy primal good-vs-evil desires for justice, but at the same time there is an unresolved non-interference issue at the base of it all to remind the reader that the world is not so black-and-white.
July 21, 2024
2.5 Stars, really.
Although it benefits from being part of a larger series, it's not enough to make this so-so entry worth the time.
Not a bad story, actually. It's kind of cool seeing the agents from "Avengers of Carrig" back, but unless you are super into the universe, I can't recommend it.
Although it benefits from being part of a larger series, it's not enough to make this so-so entry worth the time.
Not a bad story, actually. It's kind of cool seeing the agents from "Avengers of Carrig" back, but unless you are super into the universe, I can't recommend it.
November 20, 2025
When the sun of Zarathustra blew up the citizens scattered throughout the stars. Some were lost for 700 years. Now the Space Corps watches them but does not interfere. But the people of Cyclops have different ideas. The Corps is in a race against time to discover and prove exactly what the Cyclopeans are doing and put a stop to it.
Nice old school scientifiction.
Nice old school scientifiction.
May 22, 2022
Twenty years after the events of "Avengers of Carrig"/"Secret Agent of Terra", Gus and Maddalena team up again as evidence of organ smuggling emerges on Cyclops, a relatively poor planet with a collective chip on its shoulder and a history of shady deals in the off-limits Zarathustra region. Not bad as an SF thriller, but lacks the exotic background of the other two stories in the trilogy.
September 15, 2014
‘WHAT PRICE ETERNAL YOUTH?
The Corps Galactica, the Galaxy’s police force, had pledged itself to a policy of non-interference with the backward Zarathutra Refugee Planets. Langenschmidt, the Corps chief on the planet Cyclops, was content with this ruling. After all, if the refugee planets could form their own civilization from scratch, logically they would come up with cultures suited to their own needs.
However, when the case of Justin Kolb came to his attention, Langenschmidt was forced to rethink the problem.
Kolb’s accident with the wolfshark revealed to the Corp’s medicos the leg-graft that had been done on him. It was a perfect match – only its gene-pattern wasn’t Cyclopean, and limb-grafting wasn’t practiced on Cyclops. Where then had the leg come from, who had been the unknown repairman and wasn’t this something that might be violating galactic law?’
Blurb from the 1965 Ace Doubles Edition M-115
It is the far future where man has spread out to settle planets across the galaxy. The main body of galactic society in order to promote human cultural diversity, operates a non-interference policy on human-settled planets below a certain level of social development and agents are posted to those worlds to ensure compliance.
Hundreds of years before the star Zarathustra went nova and it was thought originally that that not many of the population of its single world escaped. later, known civilisation began discovering many settled planets, the Zarathustra Refugee Planets, which became known as the ZRPs.
Magdallena has just finished a twenty-year stint on a primitive backwater world whose renaissance was primed to begin until the planet’s brilliant and charismatic leader has assassinated by a less able rival, freezing the world into cultural stagnation.
Magdallena is suddenly immediately posted to Cyclops, a world whose female leader Quist is causing trouble for the Galactic envoys and troops/
Her lover, Justin Kolb, has lost his leg during a wolf-shark hunt and was rescued by a local fisherman and brought to the Corps Galactica base. It is then discovered that this is the second time that Kolb has lost his leg. The first time, the leg was not regenerated as would have been done on richer worlds. In fact, Kolb received a graft and the genetic make-up of the replacement leg was not to be found on Cyclops.
Magdellena and her longtime friend and lover, Gus, suspect that this is part of something larger, particularly as Kolb’s doctor is anxious to have Kolb transferred back to his care, and Quist unexpectedly rails against The Corps and insists that they leave Cyclops.
Ace Doubles are notoriously variable in quality, although they did publish some major talents such as Brunner, Dick, Samuel Delaney and Brian Aldiss.
Despite its sensationalist title, this is a very satisfying read and (rather like van Vogt used to) Brunner gives us tantalising titbits of the wider galaxy in which this tale is set which somehow makes it a richer experience with more depth.
Refreshingly, Brunner recognises that were we to colonise other worlds, it wouldn’t just be the US and the British that would be doing it.
The original Zarathustra colony, it transpires, had a large Iranian community, some of whom managed to escape to settle another world from which Quist’s doctor has selected victims for organ donations.
The Corps Galactica, the Galaxy’s police force, had pledged itself to a policy of non-interference with the backward Zarathutra Refugee Planets. Langenschmidt, the Corps chief on the planet Cyclops, was content with this ruling. After all, if the refugee planets could form their own civilization from scratch, logically they would come up with cultures suited to their own needs.
However, when the case of Justin Kolb came to his attention, Langenschmidt was forced to rethink the problem.
Kolb’s accident with the wolfshark revealed to the Corp’s medicos the leg-graft that had been done on him. It was a perfect match – only its gene-pattern wasn’t Cyclopean, and limb-grafting wasn’t practiced on Cyclops. Where then had the leg come from, who had been the unknown repairman and wasn’t this something that might be violating galactic law?’
Blurb from the 1965 Ace Doubles Edition M-115
It is the far future where man has spread out to settle planets across the galaxy. The main body of galactic society in order to promote human cultural diversity, operates a non-interference policy on human-settled planets below a certain level of social development and agents are posted to those worlds to ensure compliance.
Hundreds of years before the star Zarathustra went nova and it was thought originally that that not many of the population of its single world escaped. later, known civilisation began discovering many settled planets, the Zarathustra Refugee Planets, which became known as the ZRPs.
Magdallena has just finished a twenty-year stint on a primitive backwater world whose renaissance was primed to begin until the planet’s brilliant and charismatic leader has assassinated by a less able rival, freezing the world into cultural stagnation.
Magdallena is suddenly immediately posted to Cyclops, a world whose female leader Quist is causing trouble for the Galactic envoys and troops/
Her lover, Justin Kolb, has lost his leg during a wolf-shark hunt and was rescued by a local fisherman and brought to the Corps Galactica base. It is then discovered that this is the second time that Kolb has lost his leg. The first time, the leg was not regenerated as would have been done on richer worlds. In fact, Kolb received a graft and the genetic make-up of the replacement leg was not to be found on Cyclops.
Magdellena and her longtime friend and lover, Gus, suspect that this is part of something larger, particularly as Kolb’s doctor is anxious to have Kolb transferred back to his care, and Quist unexpectedly rails against The Corps and insists that they leave Cyclops.
Ace Doubles are notoriously variable in quality, although they did publish some major talents such as Brunner, Dick, Samuel Delaney and Brian Aldiss.
Despite its sensationalist title, this is a very satisfying read and (rather like van Vogt used to) Brunner gives us tantalising titbits of the wider galaxy in which this tale is set which somehow makes it a richer experience with more depth.
Refreshingly, Brunner recognises that were we to colonise other worlds, it wouldn’t just be the US and the British that would be doing it.
The original Zarathustra colony, it transpires, had a large Iranian community, some of whom managed to escape to settle another world from which Quist’s doctor has selected victims for organ donations.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews