A Planet Called Treason

Orson Scott Card’s second novel-length science fiction work, *A Planet Called Treason*, came out in 1979. (His first, *Hot Sleep*, had been published earlier that same year; the collection *Capitol* also appeared in January.) St. Martin’s Press and Dell Publishing Co. handled the original release. Nearly a decade later, in 1988, St. Martin’s reissued a heavily revised version—roughly fifty pages longer—under the new title *Treason*.

The story follows Lanik Mueller, a teenage prince of the Mueller clan. Centuries before, a group of elites and intellectuals were exiled to the planet Treason after a failed revolt against the Republic. Their descendants now form rival clans. The Muellers specialize in genetic engineering: they can heal rapidly, but the process sometimes misfires, causing “radical regeneration”—the growth of extra limbs and organs. The clan pens these individuals and harvests the extras, trading them to the Republic for iron. Treason lacks hard metals, and the Muellers believe enough iron could build a starship to escape exile. Instead, they forge weapons and, thanks to their enhancements and trade monopoly, conquer neighboring clans.

When Lanik hits puberty, he grows breasts and ovaries—a sign of radical regeneration. His father, the king, spares him from a lifetime in the pens by exiling him, but secretly tasks him with investigating the Nkumai clan, who have reportedly amassed large quantities of iron and begun their own conquests. Disguised as a woman, Lanik infiltrates the Nkumai capital, posing as an ambassador from the matriarchal Bird clan. He learns the Nkumai descend from a physicist; they sell advanced theories—including faster-than-light travel—to the Republic for iron.

His cover blown, Lanik is severely wounded while escaping. Nearly disemboweled, his radical healing kicks in: a second body and head begin sprouting from his trailing intestines. Horrified, he cuts off the undeveloped doppelgänger and crushes its head with a rock, leaving it for dead.

Captured by slavers, Lanik is thrown into solitary confinement in a ship’s dark hold. After weeks, he emerges with extra arms and legs. Terrified, the crew strands him in the desert territory of the Schwartz clan. The Schwartzes descend from a geologist and can manipulate time, not matter at the atomic level.