Slaves of the Klau is a science fiction novel by American writer Jack Vance written in 1958. It is about an Earth man, Roy Barch, who is kidnapped into slavery by a warlike alien race, the Klau and taken to a forced labour planet. Roy develops a plan to escape back to Earth by stealing an anti-gravity ship from the Klau and turning it into a spaceship.
Vance's preferred title is Gold and Iron, with gold being a reference to the gold skin tone of the benevolent Lekthwan aliens and iron a reference to Roy Barch's iron-willed resolution to escape his captors. It was first published in Space Stories magazine with the title Space Pirates; when Ace published it in a book, they changed the title to Slaves of the Klau and altered Vance's text with some cuts. In the 2002 Vance Integral Edition, Vance's preferred title (Gold and Iron) and the previously cut text were restored.
Plot
Roy Barch is a young Earth man who is the son of a scientist. His dreams of following his father's profession have been ended by the arrival on Earth of a benevolent alien race, the Lekthwan, which is far more advanced than humans. The Lekthwan pass on enough of their advanced science that many Earth scientists find that their knowledge has become obsolete, including Roy, who becomes a servant for a Lekthwan. One day, the alien's wife and two daughters arrive on Earth in a spaceship. The 20-year-old daughter, who Roy calls Ellen, is a cultural anthropologist and scientist. Roy asks her out on a date to hear a jazz band.
When they arrive home, her family has been killed by huge aliens from the Klau race, who kidnap Roy and Ellen. The pair are transported to Magarak, a grim, dank Klau mining and manufacturing planet to work as slaves. Ellen is resigned to her fate, and says escape is impossible, but Roy insists that he will escape and get back to Earth. They escape to the wilderness, where they meet a tribe of other fugitive slaves led by a towering Klau named Clet. Every week, Klau and their Podruods (a subspecies of Klau used as warriors and fighters) come on flying rafts to hunt slave fugitives for sport. Roy suggests to Clet that the tribe fight back against the Klau hunters, but Clet wants to continue the statu quo.
Roy leaves the tribe's cave, intending to become an exile. While he is in the woods, he spots a flying raft of Klau hunters coming towards the cave. He shoots the Klau and takes their alien rifles, which he uses to kill Clet (who Roy believes will never agree to fight the Klau). Roy announces he is the new leader of the tribe and tells them that they can escape from Magarak. While many dismiss his plan as hopeless, Roy argues that if they steal flying barges, they may be able to jury-rig an airtight enclosure and fly through space. He leads raiding expeditions to steal barges and equipment and they weld two barges face to face and mount life-supporters inside. As their raids continue, Roy realizes that the Klau will likely soon strike back. He mines the bluff overlooking the cave mouth with explosives and has a third barge filled with high explosives.
When the Klau attack, they fly to the bluff, and Roy triggers the explosions. Roy orders the tribe to make the final preparations on their improvised space vessel, and then he sets out to take the explosives-filled air barge to the command and control center of the Klau on Magarek. Roy destroys it the Klau headquarters and returns to the cave. However, the tribe has left, including Ellen, and the improvised spaceship is gone. After a period, another air barge arrives filled with new fugitive slaves. Roy leads the creation of a second improvised spaceship, and they get back to Earth. He is hailed as a hero in the war against the Klau slavers. He goes to see Ellen again, and she asks him to marry her. At first he refuses, on the grounds that they are too different, and he fears that her advanced alien race looks down on humans. In the end he decides to take a risk and marry her.
Arthur Philip Dent is a fictional character and the hapless protagonist of the comic science fiction series The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams.
Ellen Louise Ripley, often referred to simply as Ripley, is a fictional character and protagonist of the Alien film series, played by American actress Sigourney Weaver. The character earned Weaver worldwide recognition, and the role remains her most famous to date. Ridley Scott, director of the first film in the series, Alien, made the decision early in production to switch Ripley from a standard male action hero to a heroine.
Planet of Adventure is a series of four science fiction novels by Jack Vance, published between 1968 and 1970. The novels relate the adventures of the scout Adam Reith, the sole survivor of an Earth ship investigating a signal from the distant planet Tschai.
Ellen Craft (1826–1891) and William Craft were American fugitives who were born and enslaved in Macon, Georgia. They escaped to the North in December 1848 by traveling by train and steamboat, arriving in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. Ellen crossed the boundaries of race, class and gender by passing as a white male planter with William posing as her personal servant. Their daring escape was widely publicized, making them among the most famous of fugitives from slavery. Abolitionists featured them in public lectures to gain support in the struggle to end the institution.
Yondu Udonta, or simply Yondu, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The original version of the character is depicted as the last survivor of his species in the 31st century, and is a founding member of the original Guardians of the Galaxy team from the Marvel Multiverse alternate reality known as Earth-691. Yondu in Earth-691 is depicted as a blue-skinned male with a large red fin protruding from the back of his head and his back; he is a spiritual warrior who can control his killing arrows via sound waves, most commonly by whistling. Yondu joined Vance Astro and other survivors of the Badoon attack on the solar system in the 31st Century, who became known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. As part of the Guardians, Yondu traveled to present-day Earth and became an honorary member of the Avengers. The original Yondu never starred as a solo character in any Marvel Comic books, but was a core member of the team in the Guardians of the Galaxy comic that ran from 1990 to 1995.
Flesh Gordon Meets the Cosmic Cheerleaders is a 1990 sex comedy film, and the sequel to the sex comedy Flesh Gordon. Like the original, it spoofs the Flash Gordon serials, though the humor is more scatological than the original. Only William Dennis Hunt returns from the original cast.
The Catteni Series is a tetralogy of science fiction novels by American writer Anne McCaffrey. In this universe, humans are slaves of aliens, the humanoid Catteni. Woven through all four of the books are details of the relationship between Kristin Bjornsen, a former slave, and Zainal, a renegade Catteni.
Servants of the Wankh is a 1969 science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance, the second in the tetralogy Tschai, Planet of Adventure. It tells of the efforts of the sole survivor of a human starship destroyed by an unknown enemy to return to Earth from the distant planet Tschai.
The Pnume is a science fiction adventure novel by American writer Jack Vance. The last book in the tetralogy of Planet of Adventure, it tells of the efforts to return to Earth by the sole survivor of a human starship destroyed while investigating a mysterious signal from the distant planet Tschai.
The Purple Monster Strikes is a 1945 Republic Movie serial. It was also released as a Century 66 television film under the title D-Day on Mars (1966).
National Lampoon's Men in White is a 1998 TV movie parodying contemporary science fiction films, mainly Men in Black and Independence Day. It debuted on the Fox Family Channel.
Space Museum was a science fiction comics series published by National Comics in their flagship science fiction title Strange Adventures between 1959 and 1964. The series was written by Gardner Fox and was drawn by Carmine Infantino for almost the whole series.
The Vault of Secrets is the second serial of the fourth series of the British science fiction television series The Sarah Jane Adventures. It first aired in two parts on CBBC on 18 and 19 October 2010. It features the return of Androvax, previously seen in the episode Prisoner of the Judoon, and of the android servants of the Alliance of Shades, last seen in the Doctor Who special Dreamland.
"Lost in Space" is the eighteenth episode of the ninth season of American Dad!. The episode aired on May 5, 2013, on Fox's Animation Domination lineup. The episode was written by series co-creator Mike Barker and directed by series regular Chris Bennett. "Lost in Space" was promoted as episode 150 by Fox and numerous mainstream media reports; it is actually episode 151, while the episode "The Full Cognitive Redaction of Avery Bullock by the Coward Stan Smith" is episode 150. "Lost in Space" continues a plot line established in the episode "Naked to the Limit, One More Time." In addition, several of the episodes that aired in between "Naked to the Limit, One More Time" and "Lost in Space" contribute to the plot line in question.
The Justice League of Earth are fictional characters, a supervillain team of the 31st Century in the DC Comics universe. They were created by Geoff Johns and Gary Frank and first appeared in Action Comics #859 as enemies of the Legion of Super-Heroes.
Alien 2: On Earth, also known as Alien Terror, is a 1980 science fiction horror film, written and directed by Ciro Ippolito before the trademark Alien was registered. It was released following the success of the 1979 film Alien as an unofficial sequel, albeit having little connection to the film.
Noise is a science fiction story written by Jack Vance in 1952. Also known as ‘’Music of the Spheres’’, it was first published in the ‘’Startling Stories’’ magazine in 1952. It is about a space voyager who is marooned on a beautiful alien planet that seems to have no other inhabitants. Eventually he starts to be aware of mysterious people, towns, and music that exist in a dreamlike parallel dimension. It was reprinted in ‘’The Best from Startling Stories’’, ‘’Deep Space’’, and ‘’Strange Glory’’.
Earth to Ned is an American television show on Disney+ that streamed in 20 episodes from September 4, 2020, to January 1, 2021. It stars Ned, an alien from outer space, who comes to Earth on a mission to invade it, but upon arriving, falls in love with its pop culture and instead hosts a late night talk show to meet and be entertained by Earth's celebrities.
Alien Xmas is a 2020 American stop-motion animated Christmas film directed by Stephen Chiodo. Based on the 2006 book of the same name by Chiodo and Jim Strain, the film features the voices of Keythe Farley, Dee Bradley Baker, Kaliayh Rhambo, Michelle Deco, and Barbara Goodson. The film's plot centers on X, an extraterrestrial belonging to a race of thieving aliens known as Klepts, who is sent to the North Pole on a mission to eliminate Earth's gravity.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
