Jack of Swords: The Dumarest Saga Book 14

Science Fiction Noir

Jack of Swords (Dumarest 14) by E.C. Tubb

Things are bleak for Earl Dumarest. He has against found himself stranded on a planet where there is not enough work to earn enough money to get off planet. The local oligarchy keep their poor in another warren of shacks as they get rich raising “Beasts” - which I imagine to be super-bulls made tougher, bigger and meaner by genetic engineering.

He's on this planet because it is named “Terralde” which sounds something like “Terra,” another name for the lost Earth that he is searching for.

When Earl realizes his situation, he leads a group of losers in a raid of a Beast farm, resulting in one dead Beast, some men that will not starve, and an irate owner. The owner gets a break when one of the losers is caught trying to sell Beast meat. A net is thrown over Dumarest. An emissary of Earl's enemy, the Cyclan arrives and...

...Earl is taken off-planet by an owner who wants to locate a fabled treasure world hidden in a vast space nebula.

Never underestimate the role of luck in undermining Cyclan plans.

On the ship, we are introduced to the usual cast of greedy captains, cynical gamblers, and pampered princesses. In this version, though, Earl's unfailing eye for spotting the true among the false leads him to empathize with the Woman Who Has Lost Her Daughter, the Wealthy Old Woman, and the Blind Girl Navigator. Even the cynical gambler seems to have some redeeming qualities.

This story counts as one of the rare happy endings of a Dumarest story, apart from the fact that most of the ship dies and the treasure is absolutely useless. Nonetheless, Earl stays away from the Cyclan, although he does not seem to get any closer to Earth. [In one vision, he does seem to see Earth before it became a nearly dead world, so that may be something.]

That's not surprising. There are still another fourteen books in the series.