Short Fiction · Chapter
IV: The Destroying Avenger explained
Aboard the cruiser hurtling toward Pluto, Rudy Hartman awakens first and subdues Duncan, binding him in a spacesuit with a Varra Helmet.
What happens
Aboard the cruiser hurtling toward Pluto, Rudy Hartman awakens first and subdues Duncan, binding him in a spacesuit with a Varra Helmet. Hartman and Olcott decide to summon the Varra for guidance back to Earth, sacrificing the radium. They eject Duncan into space via the escape hatch, but Duncan uses his suit rockets to re-board the ship. The chapter ends with the cruiser plunging toward the Sun, leaving a message behind.
Themes in this chapter
Survival and Endurance
Hartman and Olcott struggle to survive against Duncan and the Plutonian threat, resorting to desperate measures.
Alien Enslavement and Rebellion
The Varra Helmets represent a form of alien control, but the characters seek to use them for their own escape.
Characters to notice
- Rudy Hartman
Awakens first from suspended animation, overpowers Duncan, and proposes summoning the Varra to escape Pluto.
- Brent Olcott
Regains consciousness and collaborates with Hartman to eject Duncan, then contacts the Varra for navigation help.
- Saul Duncan
Bound and ejected into space, but uses suit rockets to re-board the cruiser, continuing his vengeful mission.
Key passages
“Hartman had carefully measured the Sherman units of the drug, calculating so that he would awaken hours before the others. But he forgot one thing—the terrific resistance khlar builds up within the human body. So it was Rudy Hartman who first opened his eyes, groaned, and stared uncomprehendingly about him.”
Hartman miscalculated the drug's effect due to khlar resistance, causing him to wake up first instead of Duncan.
Highlights the unintended consequence of the drug and Hartman's unexpected advantage.
“Hartman touched the gun, but Olcott shook his head. 'No. Listen. Duncan. You're licked. We can get back to Earth, with you or without you. But if we get the Varra to help, we lose the radium. Why not be smart? Play along with us, and you'll still get your half a million credits.'”
Olcott offers Duncan a deal: cooperate and keep a share of the radium, or be left behind.
Shows the moral compromise and desperation of the crew.
“The bellow of the rockets died. The ship held true to its course, plunging on faster and faster toward the sunlit worlds where men knew joy and laughter and happiness. It would go on, to the funeral pyre of the Sun. But it would leave a message in its wake.”
The ship continues its doomed course toward the Sun, carrying a final message from Duncan.
Foreshadows the tragic end and Duncan's final act of defiance.