| $@%&! level: Low “Bedroom” level: Medium-Low Violence level: Medium-Low (mostly they run and hide) Back Cover: “As a new Ice Age imperils the world, a lunatic fringe of the environmental movement has taken control of the U.S. government. Finding themselves abandoned by the new regime, the once-thriving space colonies must now replenish their air from scoopships that illegally dive into the atmosphere. But when Alex and Gordon's ship is hit by a missile, they are sent tumbling to Earth--only to be hunted by authorities with ghastly plans for the two....” |
You see, in this fictional near-future, some clever environmentalists have come up with the idea that science and technology are to blame for the onset of the new Ice Age. (Don't get me wrong, I'm a bit of an environmentalist myself, but anything can be taken too far.) So in an apparent attempt to appease the gods of nature, or get back to the way things ought to be, or whatever, they've decreed that scientific advancement should be curtailed as much as possible. Which means, of course, that being a sci-fi fan is viewed rather like being an alcoholic. It isn't exactly illegal, but it's not something you boast about. The difference is that—sf fans being who they are—they don't meekly abandon their fandom or set up a 12 step program. They just take the whole thing underground and disguise a lot of it as fantasy fandom (fantasy is actively encouraged, of course).
So a lot of the story is a sort of travelogue as the fans are trying to keep the Angels away from the government and get them to another ship that might be able to launch them back into space. They manage to get a convention in there (with the government official sneering at the crazy fans, which I think is frankly priceless), and a college campus (just as crazy, but less sneering), and even cross a glacier with help from on high (that is, the satellite uses technology to keep them all from freezing). It is altogether a bit of a romp, and I sometimes think the story is just a vehicle to allow the interaction between fandom and science fiction. And honestly, I have absolutely no problem with that.