Space Pioneers

 

Read/Watch 'em In Order #169

The fourth Tom Corbett book, 1954's Space Pioneers, has a fun coincidental connection to Star Trek. It involves Earth's first attempt to colonize a planet outside the Solar System. That planet revolves around the star Wolf 359,  a real star which is a tad less than 8 light years away from Sol.

In the classic Star Trek: The Next Generation episode "The Best of Both Worlds" (1990), the Federation fights a Borg Cube in the Wolf 359 system. The Feds get their butts kicked, losing thirty-nine ships and thousands of crew.

In Space Pioneers, the problem isn't a super-powerful alien foe. Rather, its dishonest politicians.

Tom Corbett and his fellow cadets are assigned to be part of the screening process for deciding who will accompany a thousand-ship fleet to the new planet. Along the way, they turn down several shady characters. But then the man assigned to be the governer of the colony overrules them. This includes making a man named Paul Vidac his second-in-command.

During the journey to Wolf 359, Vidac seems to zig-zag between being a strong leader and being a jerk, at one point sending Tom, Astro and Roger on an unnecessary but dangerous mission to find a path through an asteroid belt, even though it was possible to easily fly around it.

When the fleet arrives at the planet, there is strange interference with ships' instruments when landing, so nearly 400 of the ships are wrecked and the colonists lose a lot of their supplies. Vidac again proves effective in salvaging what can be saved and getting things organized, but he also institutes clearly illegal methods of requiring the colonists to sign over future profits in exchange for help getting started with their new lives. When valuable uranium deposits are found, Vidac uses strong-arm tactics to get personal ownership of those deposits.

When the cadets object, they are told to shut up. When they try to see the governor, the governer can't be found. And when they try to contact Earth, they get framed for murder. That, of course, obligates them to break prison and find proof that Vidac is the real bad guy.

It's a fun story, gradually unfolding so that--though we are fairly certain Vidac is the villain from the first--the nature and depth of his plan takes time to become apparently. As is usual in the series, Tom and the cadets are forced into situations where--though punching people is occasionally called for--they must think through their situation and act intelligently.

Space Pioneers is a science fiction crime story, exploring how greed can turn good men evil and punctuating the tale with effective action scenes. The Tom Corbett books continue to entertain.