Wolfbane by Frederik Pohl
Wolfbane is a science fiction narrative set in the mid-twenty-third century, during a time when Earth's population has drastically declined due to an alien force that has taken control of the planet. This alien entity, which has replaced the Moon with a cybernetic complex, monitors humanity through mysterious constructs known as "Eyes" and sustains life on Earth by creating artificial suns every five years. The story follows two distinct groups of survivors: the compliant Citizens, represented by Roget Germyn and his wife, who accept their subjugation and celebrate their alien overlords, and the rebellious Wolves, led by Glenn Tropile, who actively resist and investigate their circumstances.
As the plot unfolds, Tropile’s journey takes him to the alien planet after he is captured and transformed to serve the alien cybernetic system. Despite his success in orchestrating a rebellion against the alien forces, he struggles with the monotony and ritualized life back on Earth. This sense of discontent drives him to return to the alien realm, fueled by a desire to uncover more about the powerful forces that shaped his existence. Wolfbane explores themes of resistance, adaptation, and the complexities of survival in a world dominated by an indifferent cosmic power.
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Subject Terms
Wolfbane
First published: 1959 (shorter version, Galaxy, 1957)
Type of work: Novel
Type of plot: Science fiction—invasion story
Time of work: 2350
Locale: An out-of-orbit Earth somewhere beyond Pluto; Wheeling, West Virginia; and Princeton, New Jersey
The Plot
Wolfbane begins in the mid-twenty-third century. For 250 years, Earth’s population has been declining, from tens of billions to millions. The surviving millions live on reduced rations, lack creature comforts, and generally are cold. These difficult conditions followed Earth’s capture by an alien force, a vast cybernetic complex that rumbled out of space and replaced the Moon with its own planet. Planting a mysterious pyramidal object atop Mount Everest and dispatching nebulous “Eyes” to monitor its planetary prisoner for “ripe” human and mechanical food, the alien planet then steadily pushed Earth and its new binary farther and farther out of its orbit, beyond Pluto. Distancing Earth from its original sun, the aliens create a new sun every five years, thereby sustaining enough human life and yielding enough human-made machinery to temporarily nourish their own planet’s cybernetic complex. That complex indifferently grazes its way through the universe.
Earth’s human survivors have split into two groups. Citizen Roget Germyn, a banker from Wheeling, West Virginia, and his wife, Citizeness Germyn, represent those who have adapted and resigned themselves to the actions of their mysterious controllers. They have, in fact, ritualized their acceptance behind a rigid code of good manners—enforced by the death penalty—and five-year celebrations of the sun’s re-creation. They even have accepted the sudden and remorseless disappearance of their fellow humans, following the appearance of the nebulous Eyes. Such “Translations” are viewed as honorable, dutiful, and almost religious experiences.
A second group, the Wolves, unlike the Germyns, is represented by Wheeling’s Glenn Tropile. Instead of acquiescing to alien forces, Wolves actively investigate the nature of the Eyes and Pyramids and seek to combat them aggressively whenever possible. Facing death as a Wolf from Wheeling’s Citizens, Tropile is recruited by the Princeton, New Jersey, Wolves. Unfortunately, he is identified almost immediately by the alien and is Translated by the Eyes to the alien planet’s cybernetic base. There, he is joined to similar prisoners and is redesigned to help run a part of the alien cybernet.
Tropile remains an aggressive, thinking Wolf. With his mental powers magnified by those of others to whom he is connected, he soon locates the polar source of the alien complex. By expanding a series of incorrect commands through the cybernet, he and his cohorts create sufficient havoc to allow the weapons they have devised and stockpiled to come into play. They literally blow the system apart.
Although Tropile is welcomed as a hero upon his return to Earth, he soon finds life too ritualized, uncomfortable, and dull. Eager to learn more about the mysterious force that held him prisoner and in awe of its intergalactic vision and adventuring, he decides to return to the alien planet.