One of the my all-time favorite since-fiction novels. When Baslim is captured by the local authorities and commits suicide, Thorby and local innkeeper 'Mother Shaum' convey the message to Captain Krausa of the starship Sisu.īecause the 'Free Trader' society to whom Krausa belongs owes a debt to Baslim for the rescue of one of their crews from a slave trader, the captain takes Thorby aboard the Sisu at great risk to himself and his clan. In addition, Baslim has Thorby memorize a contingency plan and a message to deliver to one of five starship captains in the event of Baslim's arrest or death. Thorby slowly realizes that his foster father is not a simple beggar but is gathering intelligence, particularly on the slave trade. Thereafter Baslim treats the boy as a son, teaching him not only the trade of begging, but also mathematics, history, and several languages, while sending Thorby on errands all over the city, carefully passing along information and keeping track of the comings and goings of starships. Thorby is a young, defiant slave boy recently arrived at the slave auction at planet Jubbul's capital Jubbulpore, where he is purchased by an old beggar, Baslim the Cripple, for a trivial sum and taken to the beggar's surprisingly well-furnished underground home. Master of languages and superb teacher, Baslim leads a mysterious undercover life that brings Thorby eventually to his own adventure on the Free Trading starship Sisu and finally to the truth about Baslim’s identity and his own.Citizen of the Galaxy (Heinlein's Juveniles #11), Robert A. Thorby soon discovers that Baslim is no ordinary beggar. What does puzzle bystanders and Thorny himself is his purchase by crippled Baslim, the beggar who sits every day in a corner of the marketplace. Slavery is commonplace in Jubbul, and the sight of a ragged, starving boy, Thorby, on the auction block is not unusual. In a slave market in the capital of Jubbul and of the Nine Worlds, an auctioneer announces, “Lot ninety-seven.

In the Far Future, young Thorby is sold in a slave market to an old beggar who is more than he seems to be and Thorby takes part in many adventures as he climbs the ladders of power and learns the truth of his own identity.Ĭitizen of the Galaxy takes place far in the future when the human race has spread out to colonize other planets.

Heinlein citizen of the galaxy