Spirals

Author:

Niven, Larry; Pournelle, Jerry

Publication date:

1979-04

Publication type:

Short Story

Published:

Destinies, April-June 1979, edited by James Baen

Setting:

Stand Alone

I.U.C.:

111

Characters:

Jack Halfey; Cornelius L. Riggs; Admiral Robert McLeve; Dot Hoffman; Ty Plauger; Jill Plauger

Summary:

Cornelius L Riggs, Metallurgist, answers an ad claiming "high pay, long hours, high risk. Guaranteed wealthy in ten years if you live through it." The position turns out to be an engineering post aboard humanity's orbiting habitat. The founders of "the Shack" dream of a liveable biosphere beyond Earth's gravity, a permanent settlement in space. However, Earth's the economic conditions are getting worse, and the supply ships become more and more infrequent...

Notes:

Collaboration, co-written with Jerry Pournelle

Reprints:

anthology, The Endless Frontier, edited by Jerry Pournelle, November 1979;
anthology, The Best of Destinies, edited by James Baen;
Limits