The Ascension Factor is the third to be co-authored by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom. It takes place about twenty-five years after The Lazarus Effect. It completes the story of the humans descended from those left by the Voidship Earthling on the planet Pandora approximately 480 years earlier. Dying before its completion, Herbert was unable to oversee the entire composition of his last novel. The intricate and suspenseful plot follows several groups of characters as they contribute to the downfall of their leader, Flattery, and to the establishment of a radically new social and political order on Pandora. Flattery is the clone of a man from the original colonizing ship that travelled from Earth to Pandora. Designed to ensure the survival of humanity by the most ruthless means, he is hostile to the native sentient life form, the unique kelp that fills the seas. Almost exterminated by the first human colonizers, the kelp has regrown and reorganized itself. Though it receives most human communications, it cannot transmit usable messages to all Pandorans. Flattery controls the kelp in part to minimize its contact with humans. To achieve his goal of building a new interstellar ship so that he can preserve humanity by escaping, Flattery pits the Pandorans against one another, causing much suffering… You can listen online to free English audiobook “The Ascension Factor” by Frank Herbert and Bill Ransom on our website.
