C.M. Houck

In a world molded into a veritable Utopia, life seems incapable of mismanagement. World interest in space activity has withered back into seeming indifference. But for Kronide Soter, whose family has played such prominent roles in the conquest of space, the lure of the heavens is inborn.

Kronide's recounting of personal events move from near-drowsy tranquility of computer-managed life into his discovery of a secret that could destroy the world. His chronicles present a family saga that draws from the lives of his great grandfather, grandfather, grandmother, father, himself and his children. His records are made poignant through his accounts of trying to balance the everyday problems of his immediate family with the possibility of world calamity.

In a computer-dominated world presided over by Computer Custodians, Kronide is viewed as a trouble maker, and his innocent seeking for answers thrusts Kronide from a quiet scientist into the role of a condemned "outlaw." Even college students begin to refer to him as a zeus, a slang term meaning an enigma that the world computer cannot solve. Amid ominous overtones of a Greek tragedy, Kronide emerges from being an outlaw to become the one person that the world looks to for salvation.