Battlefield Earth (novel)

Battlefield Earth: A Saga of the Year 3000 is a science fiction novel from 1982 by L. Ron Hubbard, who also created a companion soundtrack called *Space Jazz*. The book is frequently discussed in connection with Hubbard’s founding of Scientology, though he stated the religion did not influence the story. It has been reported that the Church of Scientology pressured its members to purchase many copies to push the book onto bestseller lists. A film adaptation starring John Travolta came out in 2000 and is widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever made.

The story is set in the year 3000, when the alien Psychlos have controlled Earth for a thousand years. They were drawn to the planet after discovering a deep-space probe (implied to be *Voyager 1*) carrying maps, pictures, and gold. Psychlos are huge—up to 9 feet tall and 1,000 pounds—and come from a planet in another universe with different physical laws, lacking radioactive elements. Their breathing gas explodes on contact with radioactive material like uranium. They have dominated multiple universes for at least 100,000 years. After a millennium, humanity numbers fewer than 35,000, living in scattered tribes while the Psychlos mine Earth’s resources.

The plot follows Jonnie Goodboy Tyler, a young man from a tribe near the ruins of Denver. After his father’s death and seeing the adults in his tribe grow sick and lethargic, he ventures into the lowlands to challenge old superstitions about monsters. He is captured by Terl, the Psychlo security chief, who forces Jonnie to learn the Psychlo language. When Terl learns his tour on Earth has been extended, he schemes to steal a gold deposit in the Rockies for himself. Uranium around the lode makes mining impossible for Psychlos, so Terl uses humans as forced labor, holding Jonnie’s girlfriend Chrissy and her sister hostage.

Terl orders a Psychlo named Ker—shorter than most (7 feet) and more gentle—to train Jonnie on Psychlo machinery. They become friends. Jonnie and Terl travel to Scotland, where Jonnie recruits 83 Scots led by Robert the Fox. Using Terl’s ignorance of English, Jonnie reveals Terl’s cruelty and plots with the Scots to reclaim Earth. Jonnie learns how the Psychlos conquered Earth: they sent an armored gas drone into the atmosphere, bombed all major cities, and killed billions.