Oath of Fealty (novel)

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Oath of Fealty is a 1982 novel by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle. Set in the near future, it involves a large arcology called Todos Santos, which rises above a crime-ridden Los Angeles, but has little beyond casual contact with the city.

[edit] Plot summary

Todos Santos is a large arcology built some years previously near Los Angeles. The higher standard of living enjoyed by Todos Santos residents causes resentment among Angelenos. The arcology dwellers have evolved a different culture, sacrificing privacy--there are cameras (not routinely monitored) even in the bathrooms--in exchange for security. The residents are fiercely loyal to the arcology and its management, and the loyalty runs both ways. During the course of the novel, Todos Santos is compared to a feudal society, with loyalty and obligations running both ways, hence the title. The systems at the arcology are run by MILLIE, an advanced computer system--and some high level executives have direct links to MILLIE via implants in their brains.

Todos Santos causes resentment among Angelenos, but has improved their lives as well. The company that owns the arcology tows icebergs in, solving the water shortage for all Southern Californians. Todos Santos has dug the Los Angeles subway using a digging machine. Todos Santos contains a huge mall, which Angelenos may visit.

As the story opens, three young Angelenos sneak into the maintenance areas of Todos Santos. When they are detected, as far as security can tell, they give every appearance of being terrorists. When non-lethal means of stopping the three fail, Deputy Manager Preston Sanders orders lethal gas released rather than risk a bomb going off. Two of the intruders are killed. They turn out to be youths, with high tech equipment and boxes with such labels as "bomb"--but without the actual means of harming the arcology. It soon turns out that they have links to the FROMATES, anti-technology zealots who want to see Todos Santos destroyed or abandoned.

The deaths of the two--one is the son of a Los Angeles city councilman--cause political problems. Sanders is charged with murder. While arcology manager Art Bonner is quite prepared to defy the city authorities, Sanders turns himself in. The arcology is forced to turn off its lethal defenses. When that happens, they soon face a full-fledged attack by the FROMATES, which they deter by non-lethal means--until the intruders prove they have deadly weapons, when Todos Santos security responds in kind, killing the remaining intruders. While city authorities are still reacting to this, the arcology launches a jailbreak, the idea of chief engineer (and resident genius) Tony Rand--they tunnel under the jail, release sleep gas into the jail, and free Sanders.

Los Angeles soon retaliates with arrest and search warrants, but they are soon defeated by the sheer size of the arcology and the ability of the authorities to hide Rand and Sanders. After Todos Santos shows that it can cause Los Angeles a lot of grief by denial of services, a truce is arrived at--Rand and Sanders will leave the country permanently, and relations between Los Angeles and Todos Santos will be restored. In effect, Todos Santos has won--if only in restoring the status quo ante.

[edit] Notes

The novel popularized the phrase "think of it as evolution in action," which occurs elsewhere in Niven's books.

The novel anticipated the building of the Los Angeles subway.