Ace
75 cent edition (92551)
New
158 pages
Science Fiction

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars A Suitable Role, October 8, 2007
By Arthur W. Jordin (Smyrna, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
The X-Factor (1965) is a standalone SF novel, probably in the Council/Confederation universe. The Survey Service allowed their space personnel leave to marry and to produce children. After several years, the marriage was break-bonded and the couple went their own ways. Any children from the marriage were raised in a Service creche.

In this novel, Diskan Fentress was raised in the Service creche on Nyborg. Unlike his fellows, Diskan was oversized and clumsy. Under direct or hostile supervision, he was even more clumsy. His superiors deemed him suitable only for the most degrading forms of manual labor.

Then Renfry Fentress returns from presumed death to find his son. His ship had been holed by a meteor and left drifting. Another scout from an unknown spacefaring species had rescued Renfry and took him back to Vaanchard. There he had married a Vaan woman and became stepfather of her two children, Rika and Drustans.

Since they could not have children of their own, Renfry searched for his children from previous service marriages and found Diskan. Before his long absence, Renfry had earned an impressive reputation as a First-In Scout. Obviously Diskan was not going to follow in his father's footsteps, so Renfry took him to a new home on Vaanchard.