The Ships of Earth

Plot summary

The novel follows the struggles among pioneers who have left Basilica to establish a new social order. This society is male-dominated and enforces monogamous lifelong marriages, contrasting with the female-dominated yearly contracts of Basilica. The central conflict is between Nafai and Elemak, sons of Volemak: Nafai leads those faithful to the Oversoul, while Elemak leads those wishing to return to Basilica. Both are nominally under Volemak's leadership. After years of travel, the settlers reach a lost land holding the Oversoul's secret. Many children are born, preparing for the journey to Earth. The book justifies the social structures of the Hebrew tribes in Genesis, as powerful female characters submit to the new hierarchy; only the geneticist Shedemei questions this. Prophetic dreams involve giant rats and bats called diggers and angels, and the Oversoul discovers itself.