Birth of Fire Author:Jerry Pournelle THE CHOICE WAS SIMPLE: — EARTH AND PRISON -- OR MARS AND SLAVERY — For Garrett Pittson, wrongly convicted of murder, the choice was no choice. The struggling Mars settlement need miners. At least there he wouldn't be behind bars. — As it turned out, he might as well have been: the mining corporations were running a veritable pe... more »nal colony., Appalling conditions prevailed. No work meant no food. As an extreme punishment, even oxygen was withheld.
For Pittson -- and a determined group of his fellows -- the slavery was intolerable. The only answer: revolution...« less