Tuf Voyaging

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Tuf Voyaging is a science fiction novel by George R. R. Martin, first published in 1987. It is a darkly comic meditation on environmentalism and absolute power, and is regarded by many fans as being among Martin's best early work.

The novel is a collection of short stories published over several years beginning in the late 1970s, and concerns the (mis)adventures of Haviland Tuf, a bald, very pale, overweight, phlegmatic, cat-loving but otherwise solitary space trader. Due to the venality and cutthroat tactics of those around him, Tuf inadvertently becomes master of Ark, an ancient, 30-kilometer-long "seedship," a very powerful warship with advanced ecological-engineering capabilities. Tuf travels the galaxy, offering his services to worlds with environmental problems, and sometimes imposing solutions of his own.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Contents

[edit] The Plague Star

The story begins with four people requiring transport: Celise Waan, a scholar of anthropology; Jefri Lion, a scholar and retired soldier; Annitas, a half-robotic cybertech; and Kaj Nevis, the leader of the expedition. They hire Rica Dawnstar, a mercenary bodyguard, and acquire the services of Haviland Tuf, a not very successful trader.

Their destination is a so-called "plague star," known to inflict disease and pestilence on every third generation of a small, remote world. It turns out to be a nearly-derelict seedship of the long-defunct Federal Empire's Earth Ecological Corps. Tuf's ship, the Cornucopia of Excellent Goods at Low Prices, is damaged by the seedship's automated defenses, and three of the occupants board the seedship by means of pressure suits, while the others left on the ship manage to land it on the seedship.

The halls of the seedship are contaminated with various exotic plagues. One of Tuf's cats dies due to the plagues, and Tuf uses the seedship's capabilities to clone it. In the meantime, the ship's second line of defense is released: monsters from different worlds and ages, including a T. Rex. Four of Tuf's passengers die due to the infesting plague, the wandering monsters, or by fighting one another. Rica Dawnstar, in charge of the control room, attempts to kill Tuf, but her plan backfires when Tuf uses one of the crew's leftover weapons and her own aggressiveness to dispose of her.

[edit] Loaves and Fishes

Haviland Tuf takes his newly acquired ship, the Ark, to the world of S'uthlam (an anagram for Malthus) for repairs. S'uthlam is a world on the verge of war; it requires expansion due to the world's population explosion. Due to this, the S'uthlam authorities want the Ark for themselves. In an attempt to secure it, Portmaster Tolly Mune kidnaps one of Tuf's cats. She makes a bet with Tuf - if he will solve S'uthlam's population problem, she will return his cat and give him credit for the ship's repairs. If he loses the bet, S'uthlam will keep the seedship.

Tuf works on the problem, and manages to find a solution whereby he uses the seedship's capabilities to provide exotic plants and animals which can provide sustenance for the population. The authorities, with striking proof of the Ark's capabilities, now begin scheming to bring it in their possession. Tolly Mune, disgusted with the politics of the situation, assists Tuf in escaping from S'uthlam, although he informs her that he will return to pay off his debt.

[edit] Guardians

Tuf finds himself at Namor, an oceanic world where sea monsters are attacking the local population. He offers to assist - as always, for a fee. The people of Namor grow more desperate and impatient, especially as monsters able to walk on land begin to appear. Tuf's hand is forced, and he unleashes a barrage of other creatures to directly counteract the monsters.

This strategy, initially successful, soon stops working as the monsters gain resistance from these outworldy creatures. Tuf goes back to work, and manages to find a solution. Through his psionically-enhanced cat, he manages to communicate with the other sentient being on Namor: mudpots, considered delicacies by the human population. He gives the leaders of Namor psionically-enhanced kittens to facilitate their dealings with the collective mudpot mind.

[edit] Second Helpings

Tuf returns to S'uthlam to pay the first part of his debt. He is hailed as a hero due to the advancements in food supply, now known as "Tuf's Flowering." This is also due to Tuf and Mune, a highly inaccurate, overly-dramatized movie about Tuf's first adventure on S'uthlam, which Mune encouraged so as to build public support for Tuf's plan.

However, paraoxically, the overpopulation crisis has become even worse due to Tuf's Flowering. Tuf works on trying to provide even more-efficient crops and animals. He also insists on delivering planet-wide speech detailing the enhancements he had in mind for S'uthlam - and also warning the S'uthlamese people to practice population control methods.

[edit] A Beast for Norn

Tuf is approached by Herold Norn, Senior Beastmaster of the Norn House of Lyronica. The House of Norn requests beasts for gladiatorial fighting in Lyronica's Bronze Arena. After seeing an example of the Arena battles (and, it is strongly implied, being appalled by its barbarity), Tuf agrees to make a beast for the House of Norn.

As the House of Norn racks up victories with their cobalcats, Tuf is approached by the other houses for beasts, until the final house approaches him for a beast and also for a proposal for him to stop dealing with the houses of Norn. Tuf graciously accepts the offer.

Herold Norn returns to Tuf to complain about their cobalcats not mating. Tuf gets the last laugh, as the introduction of all the beasts would change the exosystem of the world into one less suited for large predators, thus leading to the (unstated) end of the Bronze Arena.

[edit] Call Him Moses

While peaceably eating in a restaurant, Tuf is attacked by Jaime Kreen. Kreen is convicted for the attack and bonded to Tuf as a servant in debt. Kreen explains that his world of Charity is controlled by a man named Moses. Taking his cues from the Bible, Moses unleashed plagues on the people of Charity, until they conceded that he must have had divine help - or, as Tuf recognizes, the help of an ecological engineer.

Tuf offers to help Kreen against Moses. Kreen manages to bring back the leaders of Charity for negotiations. Using high technology, Tuf introduces himself to Moses as God, in the guise of a pillar of fire. He afflicts Charity with Moses's plague of legend; widespread planetary plagues instead of Moses' (implied) localised plagues.

After two plagues, Tuf invites Moses onboard the Ark, and shows him simulations of the plagues that he could have inflicted in the future. Moses, frightened, gives up his claim on Charity.

[edit] Manna from Heaven

Tuf returns to S'uthlam for the third time to pay off the last of his debt. This time, S'uthlam is on the brink of war with the allied forces of the neighbouring worlds. Tolly Mune, now First Councillor, comes aboard the Ark to discuss with Tuf the possibility of acquiring the seedship for S'uthlam's own purposes.

S'uthlam's population problem remain, worse than ever, as Tuf's innovations from his previous visit were not maximally used. Its society is beginning to break down and either war or social collapse seem likely. Tuf labors to find a solution, and calls a meeting of all the worlds about to clash. He presents to them his solution - an edible, mildly addictive plant called 'manna,' which will freely grow everywhere on S'uthlam and eliminate its hunger problems. After some arm-twisting in which Tuf threatens to use the military might of his seedship against anyone who refuses, the hostile worlds agree to an armistice. Tuf later tells a horrified Tolly Mune that the manna will feed her people, but will also inhibit the libidos of the S'uthlamese and cause widespread - but not universal - sterilization. He leaves Mune to make a momentous decision for S'uthlam; it is implied that she accepts the provision of manna to forestall war and famine.

[edit] Tuf's Character Development

In the beginning of the novel Tuf is an unassuming trader, of humble and somewhat bland (on the surface) nature, an aversion to human contact, and a love of cats. As the story progresses, Tuf's ego grows, as the power of the Ark allows him to solve the apparently-intractable problems of several worlds. Tolly Mune, in explaining why she was helping him escape with the ship, says that "Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" (an uncredited quotation of the ancient dictum by Lord Acton). Mune further says that she doesn't think that there is such a thing as an incorruptible man, but if there is, Tuf is it. She also says that she wouldn't trust the leaders of her world with the potentially terrible biowarfare capabilities of Ark.

Eventually this becomes a grim prediction, as Tuf begins to take the fates of whole worlds into his own hands, destroying the Bronze Arena, changing the relations of Namor's humans with its native hivemind, dictating birth control to the S'uthlamese, and frightening Moses with overt displays of biowarfare, culminating with the ultimate removal of the freedom of choice of the S'uthlamese, and forcing Tolly Mune to choose the lesser of two calamitous evils.

[edit] Publishing History

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