Battlefield Earth (novel) narrative location Earth
Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 is a 1982 science fiction novel written by L. Ron Hubbard, founder of Scientology. He also composed a soundtrack to the book called Space Jazz.Setting
In the year 3000 AD, the Psychlos, an alien race, have ruled Earth for a millennium. The Psychlos discovered a deep space probe (suggested to be Voyager 1) with directions and pictures mounted on it and the precious material, gold, which led them straight to Earth.
Psychlos stand up to 9 feet (2.7 m) tall and weigh up to 1,000 pounds (450 kg). They originate from Psychlo, a planet with an atmosphere radically different from Earth, located in another universe with a distinct set of physical laws characterized by a lack of elements that are radioactive. Their "breathe-gas" explodes on contact with even trace amounts of radioactive material, such as uranium. The Psychlos have been the dominant species across multiple universes for at least 100,000 years.
After one thousand years, humanity is an endangered species numbering fewer than 35,000 and reduced to tribes in isolated parts of the world while the Psychlos strip the planet of its mineral wealth.Plot
The novel follows Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, a young man in one such tribe, who lives near the ruins of Denver in the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. Depressed by the recent death of his father and both the lethargy and sickness of the surviving adults in his tribe, he leaves his village to explore the lowlands and to disprove the superstitions long held by his people of monsters in those areas.
On a brief excursion to the ruins of Denver Terl, Psychlo chief of mine site security, encounters and captures Jonnie. After forcing Jonnie to learn the Psychlo language, Terl learns “home office” has extended his tour of duty on Earth. Maddened by the prospect of being stuck on a minor planet in an insignificant universe, Terl schemes to take a lode of gold in the Rockies for himself and escape. Uranium deposits surround the lode, making mining by Psychlos impossible, forcing Terl to resort to using humans as forced labor.
Terl orders a fellow Psychlo named Ker to train Jonnie in the use of Psychlo machinery. Ker, markedly different both in height (7 feet (2.1 m) tall) and in temperament from other Psychlos, trains Jonnie as ordered but the Psychlo and Jonnie also become friends. Terl and Jonnie travel to Scotland where Jonnie recruits eighty-three Scottish people led by Robert the Fox to help with the mining. Using Terl's inability to understand English as a weapon, Jonnie plots with the Scotsmen to take back the Earth.
Months later Jonnie and the Scots disrupt the semi-annual teleportation of personnel and other goods to Psychlo, using Psychlo technology against the Psychlos and gaining control of the planet. A year after humans gained control of the planet, other alien races arrive and orbit the Earth. Threatened by these races, Jonnie at the same time opposes a race of intergalactic bankers seeking to repossess the Earth for unpaid debts. The security and independence of humanity once again threatened, Jonnie eventually discovers that Psychlo ended up destroyed by Jonnie and the Scots, and that all other Psychlo facilities throughout the universes also ended up destroyed, effectively dooming the Psychlos to extinction. He then works out a way to prevent the repossession of Earth.
With the help of an aged Psychlo engineer, Jonnie learns about Psychlo math and how the Psychlos protected their technology. Humans begin to rediscover their history, and with the Earth secure and the human population growing, a middle-aged Jonnie takes supplies and quietly slips away to the Rocky Mountains. He becomes a figure of legend.