Pournelle returns to his favorite themes of breakdown of the rule of law, the politics of entitlement and disdain for anti-technology activists.

An intelligent young misfit, Kevin Senecal, leaves Earth to escape various troubles, including a teen gang vendetta which the authorities will not act to stop, and bureaucratic interference in his studies for an engineering degree, in a culture where environmentalists and zero-growth advocates hold sway.

The journey involves laser launch from Earth to orbit, and a long voyage on a ship using the NERVA nuclear rocket technology.

During the journey, all the passengers have to be involved in maintaining the shipboard environment, which includes algae to generate oxygen from photosynthesis.

They improvise a steam-jet rocket which lets them land back on Ceres and bring an end to the intrigue.

Apart from this character (in both this novel and High Justice), it appears in The Prince as the name of the rebel military leader (and consort of Colonel John Christian Falkenberg III) on New Washington.