Skip to main content

story identification - Abandoned colony of military engineer corps


I read this short sci-fi story some time ago:


The story is about an abandoned colony of military engineer corps that crash landed on a planet. They still know all about repairing equipment (they don't have any).


The other part is about the empire that is losing the knowledge about repairing the ships and equipment. One day, a ship reach the colony.



Answer



"The Specter General", a novella by Theodore R. Cogswell, first published in Astounding Science Fiction, June 1952, available at the Internet Archive. Here is the plot description from the Wikipedia article about that story:




The 427th Light Maintenance Battalion of the Imperial Space Marines is sent to an uninhabited planet to set up a base, but is forgotten when the Empire collapses in civil wars. Generation after generation for 500 years, the soldiers stubbornly hold onto their mission, training to repair starships that never come. Their equipment gradually wears out and to all outward appearance, they seem to be primitive savages, living by hunting and farming. Periodic visits by the Inspector General (actually the battalion commander hidden in a still-working "battle suit") maintains the fiction that there is still a functional Empire.

A ramshackle Galactic Protectorate eventually emerges from the rubble of the Empire, though incessant power struggles keep it weak. Leaders strip subordinate commanders of trained personnel to strengthen their own positions while discouraging any ideas of rebellion. As a result, space fleets receive inadequate maintenance, and the level of civilization ebbs.

The current Lord Protector tries to purge the second most powerful man, General Carr, but he escapes. Pressure is put on sector and base commanders to find the fugitive. Conrad Krogson, head of War Base Three, takes his fleet out to search star systems that have not been visited in living memory.

Meanwhile, Colonel Marcus Harris, commander of the maintenance battalion is overthrown by his executive officer, Lieutenant Colonel Blick. He and a loyal Second Lieutenant Kurt Dixon are jailed. When Dixon escapes, he has to hide in a battle suit to avoid detection. He accidentally activates it and is propelled into outer space. There, he is captured by a scout and taken to Krogson.

Believing he has found Carr's base, Krogson prepares to destroy it. However, Dixon manages to rewire the circuits so that an attempt to fire would result in the fleet's destruction. A Mexican standoff ensues. Harris, restored to command to deal with the unprecedented situation, tries to negotiate with Krogson, but neither man is able to find a safe way out of their dilemma. Harris will not surrender his unit to Krogson, nor can he take a vastly larger force prisoner.

Then Krogson receives news that Carr has overthrown the Lord Protector and that he is now on the list of those to be purged. This breaks the deadlock. Harris proposes that his men whip the fleet into shape and make it an unbeatable force to take over the Protectorate. Krogson agrees, making it clear that he intends to set up a less cutthroat form of government. Then, Conrad Krogson, "Inspector General of the Imperial Space Marines", lands to inspect his troops.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - How could Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra?

I want to be very careful about how I ask this question – I am not asking How did Voldemort die? [CLOSED] Below the text is the relevant passages from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows if anyone wants to review them (I'm sorry for the amount of text). How did Expelliarmus beat Avada Kedavra and kill Voldemort? I feel the reason Harry's Expelliarmus overpowered Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse has to do with who was master of the Elder Wand and how the Elder Wand works. I've always had trouble understanding fully how the Elder Wand works, though. How much did the fact that Voldemort never truly won or mastered the Elder Wand factor into how Expelliarmus reacted to Avada Kedavra and caused Avada Kedavra to rebound and kill Voldemort? An answer based in book canon would be especially welcome, but any canon source really is fine. Harry heard the high voice shriek as he, too, yelled his best hope to the heavens, pointing Draco’s wand: ‘ Avada Kedavra !’ ‘ Expelliarmus !...
Post a Comment
Read more