Barbary (novel)
Encyclopedia
Barbary is a 1986
science fiction
novel written by Vonda McIntyre
about an orphan
and her cat
moving to a space station
. It is considered one of the best science fiction stories of the decade for children and young adults
.
Barbary gets a seat on the shuttle with the help of the station's new administrator, a famous African-American woman astronaut, who tells her the reason so many VIPs are on the shuttle: an alien spacecraft has entered the solar system. It is not responding to communications or making any transmissions, nor is it making any powered maneuvers, but its course will bring it close to Einstein.
Once she reaches orbit, Barbary spends several days on an orbital transfer ship before finally arriving at Einstein while managing to keep Mickey hidden. Once there, she meets Yoshi; Heather, her new sister, who is the first child born in space; and Thea, Yoshi's lover, an absent-minded astronomer. She hides Mickey in her and Heather's shared room, but has to reveal him to her fairly quickly. Heather agrees to help her keep Mickey hidden and fed while showing her around her new home and taking her on a trip outside the station in a vehicle called a "sled."
Barbary asks Heather if she knows any private places on the station where Mickey can move about more freely so he won't be bored. Heather shows them a radiation shielding sublevel of the station on the outer edge of its rotating ring; it is filled with dirt made from lunar regolith
tailings from the station's construction. While there, Mickey crawls into a mistakenly-open access panel to an elevator shaft and the girls lose him. They are reunited when the station administrator later summons Barbary to the station control center, where Mickey has emerged, to the delight of the technicians. Initially she wants to send Mickey back to Earth, but relents when a technician discovers a dead rat that Mickey has found and killed, proving he might be useful to the station as pest control.
In the meantime, Thea has been constructing a telescope instrument in the family's quarters which is to be put on a sled and sent toward the alien craft, which has finally made a course change to bring it near Einstein and has sent transmissions in many human languages. When Heather and Barbary are elsewhere on the station, Mickey climbs inside the instrument package, and is not noticed when the package is installed on the sled and sent off into space. Barbary figures out he is not on the station when the station computer tells her it can't detect the radio tracking tag on his collar. She and Heather take Heather's sled out and begin chasing after Mickey's sled, but when they catch up, both sleds are grabbed by tractor beams and pulled aboard the alien ship. The girls learn that the friendly aliens, which look like mobile crystalline columns, have been traveling through the galaxy for a billion years, and have come to the solar system to inform humanity of the rules of galactic society before humanity finds it first. The novel ends with the aliens beginning to take the girls back to their home.
, where it is used to construct space colonies. The situation on Earth, however, appears to be somewhat bleaker than that of the time of the novel's writing. It is mentioned that Barbary has never eaten beef and has almost been caught up in riots, that she has only ever seen animals like cows in zoos, that few people in cities keep pets any more, and that travel into the wilderness requires difficult-to-obtain permits.
In the novel we meet the Secretary-General
of the United Nations
, Ambassador Begay, a Navajo
woman who was once leader of the "United Tribes of North America". However, Barbary also encounters "the vice-president" and "Secret Service
" agents, presumably from a future United States, although this is not stated, nor what its relationship with the UTNA is. It is mentioned that the space settlements have representatives at the UN.
The novel contains many details about aspects of life in space and on the space station, especially on the effects of zero gravity and spin gravity
.
1986 in literature
The year 1986 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Michael Grade. Controller of BBC One, axes plans to televise Ian Curteis's The Falklands Play.-New books:*Kingsley Amis - The Old Devils...
science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel written by Vonda McIntyre
Vonda McIntyre
Vonda Neel McIntyre is an American science fiction author.-Biography:Vonda N. McIntyre, daughter of H. Neel and Vonda B. Keith McIntyre, earned a degree in biology from the University of Washington in 1970. That same year, she attended the Clarion Writers Workshop, founded at the Clarion...
about an orphan
Orphan
An orphan is a child permanently bereaved of or abandoned by his or her parents. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents is called an orphan...
and her cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
moving to a space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
. It is considered one of the best science fiction stories of the decade for children and young adults
Young adult literature
Young-adult fiction or young adult literature , also juvenile fiction, is fiction written for, published for, or marketed to adolescents and young adults, roughly ages 14 to 21. The Young Adult Library Services of the American Library Association defines a young adult as "someone between the...
.
Plot summary
Barbary, a twelve-year-old girl, is an orphan who has lived in several group homes and foster families since the death of her mother. The novel opens with her waiting in a spaceport for a seat on a shuttle to Earth orbit, which will be the first step on a journey to the research space station Einstein, where she is to live with her new foster father, Yoshi, a poet and college friend of her mother's. Unfortunately, she has two difficulties: the shuttle is filled with dignitaries from Earth travelling to the station, so it's unlikely she will get a seat, and she is trying to smuggle her cat, Mickey, into space with her (pets are forbidden on the station).Barbary gets a seat on the shuttle with the help of the station's new administrator, a famous African-American woman astronaut, who tells her the reason so many VIPs are on the shuttle: an alien spacecraft has entered the solar system. It is not responding to communications or making any transmissions, nor is it making any powered maneuvers, but its course will bring it close to Einstein.
Once she reaches orbit, Barbary spends several days on an orbital transfer ship before finally arriving at Einstein while managing to keep Mickey hidden. Once there, she meets Yoshi; Heather, her new sister, who is the first child born in space; and Thea, Yoshi's lover, an absent-minded astronomer. She hides Mickey in her and Heather's shared room, but has to reveal him to her fairly quickly. Heather agrees to help her keep Mickey hidden and fed while showing her around her new home and taking her on a trip outside the station in a vehicle called a "sled."
Barbary asks Heather if she knows any private places on the station where Mickey can move about more freely so he won't be bored. Heather shows them a radiation shielding sublevel of the station on the outer edge of its rotating ring; it is filled with dirt made from lunar regolith
Regolith
Regolith is a layer of loose, heterogeneous material covering solid rock. It includes dust, soil, broken rock, and other related materials and is present on Earth, the Moon, some asteroids, and other terrestrial planets and moons.-Etymology:...
tailings from the station's construction. While there, Mickey crawls into a mistakenly-open access panel to an elevator shaft and the girls lose him. They are reunited when the station administrator later summons Barbary to the station control center, where Mickey has emerged, to the delight of the technicians. Initially she wants to send Mickey back to Earth, but relents when a technician discovers a dead rat that Mickey has found and killed, proving he might be useful to the station as pest control.
In the meantime, Thea has been constructing a telescope instrument in the family's quarters which is to be put on a sled and sent toward the alien craft, which has finally made a course change to bring it near Einstein and has sent transmissions in many human languages. When Heather and Barbary are elsewhere on the station, Mickey climbs inside the instrument package, and is not noticed when the package is installed on the sled and sent off into space. Barbary figures out he is not on the station when the station computer tells her it can't detect the radio tracking tag on his collar. She and Heather take Heather's sled out and begin chasing after Mickey's sled, but when they catch up, both sleds are grabbed by tractor beams and pulled aboard the alien ship. The girls learn that the friendly aliens, which look like mobile crystalline columns, have been traveling through the galaxy for a billion years, and have come to the solar system to inform humanity of the rules of galactic society before humanity finds it first. The novel ends with the aliens beginning to take the girls back to their home.
Setting details
The future world of Barbary features a space infrastructure inspired by the work of Gerard K. O'Neill. Lunar material is mined on the Moon and sent into Earth orbit by mass driverMass driver
A mass driver or electromagnetic catapult is a proposed method of non-rocket spacelaunch which would use a linear motor to accelerate and catapult payloads up to high speeds. All existing and contemplated mass drivers use coils of wire energized by electricity to make electromagnets. Sequential...
, where it is used to construct space colonies. The situation on Earth, however, appears to be somewhat bleaker than that of the time of the novel's writing. It is mentioned that Barbary has never eaten beef and has almost been caught up in riots, that she has only ever seen animals like cows in zoos, that few people in cities keep pets any more, and that travel into the wilderness requires difficult-to-obtain permits.
In the novel we meet the Secretary-General
United Nations Secretary-General
The Secretary-General of the United Nations is the head of the Secretariat of the United Nations, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
, Ambassador Begay, a Navajo
Navajo people
The Navajo of the Southwestern United States are the largest single federally recognized tribe of the United States of America. The Navajo Nation has 300,048 enrolled tribal members. The Navajo Nation constitutes an independent governmental body which manages the Navajo Indian reservation in the...
woman who was once leader of the "United Tribes of North America". However, Barbary also encounters "the vice-president" and "Secret Service
United States Secret Service
The United States Secret Service is a United States federal law enforcement agency that is part of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The sworn members are divided among the Special Agents and the Uniformed Division. Until March 1, 2003, the Service was part of the United States...
" agents, presumably from a future United States, although this is not stated, nor what its relationship with the UTNA is. It is mentioned that the space settlements have representatives at the UN.
The novel contains many details about aspects of life in space and on the space station, especially on the effects of zero gravity and spin gravity
Artificial gravity
Artificial gravity is the varying of apparent gravity via artificial means, particularly in space, but also on the Earth...
.