Beowulf's Children is a science fiction novel by American writers Larry Niven, Jerry Pournelle and Steven Barnes, first published in 1995.
As the story opens the second generation of Avalon's colonists are coming of age, and the potential for teenage rebellion has never been so strong.
The original colonists (the "Earth-born"), although selected for optimal physical and mental attributes, suffered varying levels of brain damage due to the unforeseen effects of long periods of chemically and temperature-induced hibernation necessary to survive the long journey to Avalon.
The Grendel Wars (in which the Earth-Born's short-sightedness nearly led to their extermination by a crocodile-like native species) are still fresh in their minds.
The battle-proven (yet impaired) elders preach a dogma of zealous caution which might have once tried their own patience; the brilliant (and arrogant) Star-Born deem it cowardice and tyranny.
Adding to the strain are those who made the journey to Avalon as cargo: the "Bottle Babies", embryos grown in artificial wombs.
Two of the colony's best and brightest die in a horrifying, inexplicable fashion: a storm of yellow sand which has left nothing but naked bones soaked with Grendel supercharger, and a baby wrapped in a blue blanket.
The Earth-Born ban further trips to the mainland, but the Star Born make an attempt to return on a quest for answers (and vengeance).
Cadmann Weyland (the colony's hero from the Grendel War) stows away on the return trip, accidentally killing one of the Star-Born during an altercation.
The colony holds a tribunal, which finds Cadmann not guilty; this increases tension between the generations of colonists.
There is much to learn; the danger seems controllable until a rainstorm permits six Grendels to reach a snowy mountaintop where a study is taking place.
Aaron Tragon behaves more erratically, convinced that the source of his powers is his origin as a Bottle Baby.
He hopes to use artificial wombs to sire hundreds of children (breeding them like horses), and begins worshipping the Grendels.
A small group of Star-Born, trapped in a snowstorm, killed five Grendels with only one casualty, Stu Ellington, a bottle baby.
The Grendels were intelligent enough to take advantage of the snowstorm to overcome the heat generated during supercharging, and cooperated to hunt the Star-Born.
In contrast, when the Earth-Born first encountered the Grendels they lost ten colonists while driving off one gravely wounded monster.
This depends on when the infection occurs; during development, the symbiote and host are able to adapt to each other and produce heightened intelligence.
Tragon returns to Shangri-La with a story that Cadmann and his fellow Star-Born were eaten by Grendels, but the bees are still coming.