Earthseed by Pamela Sargent
Earthseed is a young adult science fiction novel by Pamela Sargent that explores themes of survival, violence, and the complexities of human relationships in an extraterrestrial setting. The story centers on a group of adolescents, raised aboard a computerized asteroid known as Ship, who are being prepared to colonize a new world. The protagonist, fifteen-year-old Zoheret, navigates her evolving identity and her relationships with her peers amidst the backdrop of a carefully controlled environment, which is disrupted during a significant competition that tests their independence.
As the plot unfolds, the children confront the darker aspects of human nature, including violence and treachery, particularly as they interact with one another in a more isolated environment. The narrative takes a twist when Zoheret discovers a hidden group of young people in suspended animation, revealing the secrets behind their existence and the true intentions of the adult figures aboard Ship. The story ultimately culminates in a rebellion against these adults, leading to a restoration of autonomy for the young colonists.
Set one year after their arrival on the new planet, the novel concludes with Zoheret and her peers taking on leadership roles, symbolizing a new beginning for humanity as they chart their own course away from their creators. Earthseed invites readers to reflect on the implications of technological control, the nature of leadership, and the potential for new societal structures in an uncharted world.
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Earthseed
First published: 1983
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—cosmic voyage
Time of work: Near the end of a one-hundred-year space voyage
Locale: Aboard an asteroid space vessel and on an unnamed planet
The Plot
Earthseed is distinguished by the fact that it was the first novel that author Pamela Sargent wrote for young adults. It concerns a group of adolescents who have been reared on a space vessel by its computer in order to populate a new world. This scenario is complicated by two factors. The first is the violent instinct of the human race, reflected in the behavior of the children and the stowaway adults. The second, as important, is the true nature of the Project, which has been kept secret from both Ship and the children.
Sargent’s novel centers on fifteen-year-old protagonist Zoheret, her teenage companions, and their relationship to the Project. They believe that they and their vessel, a computerized asteroid called Ship, were created by Earth-based scientists in order to seed a new world and thus expand the range of the human species.
In part 1, the young people live in a series of well-equipped corridors in the vessel, all of their wants and needs taken care of by Ship. This Edenic existence is disturbed when Ship sends the youngsters on their first step toward independence from the asteroid incubator: a team competition to cross the Hollow, the Earth-like interior of the vessel. During this test, violent tendencies in the children—particularly in the boys Ho and Manuel—lead to serious injuries and hard feelings.
Part 2, which makes up the bulk of Earthseed, concerns itself with the roots and the consequences of violence and treachery in the human species. This section finds the young people living in the Hollow on a full-time basis. The violence that characterized the competition intensifies as the future colonists must struggle without Ship’s protection. A raid by Ho on Zoheret’s group leads to escalating violence, and Ho uses hostages as bargaining chips.
The plot becomes more complicated when Zoheret stumbles on a second group of young people that Ship secretly has kept in suspended animation. Their prospective world was deemed uninhabitable. Zoheret’s group is stunned when adults forcibly wrest control of their encampment and turn it into a concentration camp. Secretly stowed away aboard the vessel without Ship’s knowledge, these adults created the Project and are the genetic parents of the children. Their goal was to seed many new planets, not only one, and thus create new human societies. Their distrust of technology prompted them to steal themselves aboard Ship and resume control of the Project. Zoheret is captured by the adults, escapes to one of the corridors, and enlists the help of the other group of young people. Together, they restore Ships mind, which had been turned off by the intruders, and capture the adults.
The brief final section of the novel is set one year later, on the new planet. All the young people live there, with Zoheret as leader of one group, Ho leader of another, and Aleksandr leader of the children who had been in suspended animation. Ship, having settled the young people, sets off on its own journey, independent of its creators. It will seed the adults, who are now in suspended animation, as well as the new humans that it will rear.