City of the Chasch
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| Author | Jack Vance |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Tschai, Planet of Adventure |
| Genre(s) | Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | |
| Released | 1968 |
| Followed by | Servants of the Wankh |
City of the Chasch' is the first science fiction adventure novel of a tetralogy entitled Tschai, Planet of Adventure. It was written by Jack Vance and follows the attempts of a man stranded on the distant planet Tschai to return to Earth.
[edit] Plot summary
A human starship intercepts a mysterious signal. It tracks it back to the Carina 4268 star system, 212 light years from Earth. Two elite scouts, Adam Reith and Paul Waunder, are dispatched in a small scout-boat to investigate the seemingly-habitable planet from whence it came. Seconds later, a missile utterly destroys the mothership. The scout-boat itself is severely damaged, but the two men manage to nurse it to the planet before ejecting into a forest.
The crash site is first discovered by a party of technologically primitive humans. Reith is amazed to find men on a heretofore unknown, distant planet. One of them kills Waunder with a rapier; Reith's parachute is caught in a tree, so he remains undetected. A second party approaches, this time in an fifty foot long sky-raft, sending the humans scurrying into hiding. It is manned (as Reith later learns) by massive, alien Blue Chasch and their human Chaschmen servants. Their investigation of the wreckage is interrupted by a third group, belonging to another spacefaring species, the Dirdir. (Neither the Chasch nor the Dirdir are native to Tschai.) The Chasch ambush the tall, pale Dirdir and their human Dirdirmen; after a short battle, the damaged Dirdir sky ship escapes, leaving the Chasch to haul the scout-boat away.
Injured and helpless, Reith attracts the attention of the humans and is taken captive by Traz Onmale, the grave, mature boy-chieftain of the tribe. While his wounds heal, Reith incurs the wrath of the "magicians" who actually control the group. Before he can be castrated to make him more docile, he escapes, taking Traz with him. The teen is not unwilling to go, since he was expected to sacrifice himself to the gods if the tribe did not prosper.
On their trek, Reith rescues an outcast Dirdirman, Ankhe at afram Anacho, from a Phung, an extremely dangerous native. With no plans of his own, he joins them.
The trio book passage on a trade caravan. Among the other passengers are a group of priestesses, taking a female captive, Ylin-Ylan, the Flower of Cath, home to participate in an important rite. On the lawless steppes, the woman is stolen by the caravan's scouts; Reith then rescues her. He learns that the mysterious signal originated from her people.
From Anacho's explanation of Dirdirman theology, Reith deduces that the Dirdir were responsible for bringing men to Tschai tens of thousands of years ago. His mission is now clear - he must alert Earth to the possible threat of the Dirdir.
The caravan is attacked by Green Chasch just outside the run-down city of Pera, but Reith's group manages to reach safety. The town is ruled by Naga Goho and his band of brigands. The beautiful Ylin-Ylan attacts his attention; while Reith and Anacho are away, he takes her captive and prepares to execute Traz, forcing Reith to organize a revolt to overthrow the tyrant and rescue them.
Reith's locator indicates his scout-boat has been taken to the nearby Blue Chasch city of Dadiche. Reith sneaks in and finds his ship, apparently intact. He is spotted before he can make a closer inspection and is forced to flee for his life. When he returns to Pera, he finds that he has been elected the new chief of the city.
A group of Blue Chasch arrives in Pera, demanding Reith's surrender. When he refuses, a battle erupts, which the humans win. The Blue Chasch then send their entire armed might, but Reith arranges for the Green Chasch, the mortal enemies of the Blue Chasch, to ambush and wipe them out.
With Dadiche now defenseless, Reith and the men of Pera take charge. He frees the Chaschmen and gives them Dadiche to rule, after revealing that they had been duped. The Chaschmen had been told they were transformed at death into Chasch. Baby Chasch were implanted in their corpses in secret, to emerge when there were witnesses.
When Reith checks his scout-boat, he discovers that it has been gutted. Ylin-Ylan convinces him to take her back to technologically advanced Cath, where he might be able to build a ship with the backing of her wealthy father.
