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''Ethan of Athos'' is a 1986 science fiction novel by American author Lois McMaster Bujold. The titular character is Dr. Ethan Urquhart, Chief of Biology at the Severin District Reproduction Centre on the planet Athos, who is sent to find out what happened to a shipment of vital ovarian tissue cultures. Set in the fictional universe of Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, the novel mentions but does not feature her usual protagonist Miles Vorkosigan. To date, Bujold has never revisited the settings of Athos or Kline Station in her many subsequent novels, but the events of ''Ethan of Athos'' are later referred to indirectly in the novels ''Borders of Infinity'' (1989) and ''Cetaganda'' (1995). Bujold had written her first novel ''Shards of Honor'' and its sequel ''The Warrior's Apprentice'' — both unpublished — when she wrote ''Ethan of Athos'', a standalone work that was purposely short "because the current cargo-cult rumor amongst the wanna-be-published back then was that editors would be more likely to read a short manuscript." All three novels were subsequently sold, and published in 1986. Bujold named Athos, a planet founded and maintained as an exclusively male-populated colony with a planetary religion and ideology supporting this single-sex structure, after the Greek Mount Athos,〔 which has prohibited the entry of women for religious reasons since even before the ban was officially proclaimed by the Byzantine emperor Constantine Monomachos in 1046. ''Ethan of Athos'' has been reprinted several times, and appeared in the 2001 Bujold omnibus ''Miles, Mystery and Mayhem'' alongside ''Cetaganda'' and the novella "Labyrinth." The novel was released on audio cassette in September 1999 narrated by Michael Hanson and Carol Cowan, and as a digital audiobook in March 2009 narrated by Grover Gardner. ==Plot== Dr. Ethan Urquhart, Chief of Biology at the Severin District Reproduction Centre on Athos, is upset to find that his long-awaited shipment of ovarian tissue cultures from off-planet consist of an unusable mixture of dead and animal tissues. An exclusively male-populated planetary colony, continuing reproduction on Athos relies on uterine replicator technology, but the centuries-old cultures introduced by the original colonists have recently begun deteriorating into senescence. With their entire shipment purchased from the planet Jackson's Whole inexplicably consisting of genetic trash, the Population Council of Athos appoints a reluctant Ethan as their planetary ambassador, sending him offworld in search of a fresh batch of tissue cultures and (if possible) a refund from the original supplier, House Bharaputra. This is a very daring assignment as it means contact with women, who Athosians are taught are demonic and terrifying. Ethan arrives at the interstellar hub of Kline Station and immediately encounters his first woman, Commander Elli Quinn, a rather unorthodox intelligence officer with the Dendarii Free Mercenary Fleet (and a subordinate to Admiral Naismith) who is there on leave. Though she is pleasant and even helpful, Ethan is instinctively wary of her and what potential danger to himself and his mission she may present. He is soon abducted and interrogated by military agents from Cetaganda who are seeking a fugitive named Terrence Cee as well as the lost tissue cultures, and believe Ethan is some sort of opposing intelligence operative. Elli appears and rescues Ethan from certain execution. They become reluctant allies as Elli explains that she has actually been hired by House Bharaputra to track the Cetagandans, and for her own reasons determine what their interest is in the tissue cultures and how it relates to a secret Cetagandan research project. Terrence approaches Ethan with a request for asylum, revealing himself to be the last surviving creation (originally labelled as L-X-10-Terran-C) of a Cetagandan genetic project to create telepaths. Although his telepathy is reliable, it has a small range and can only be triggered for a short amount of time by ingesting large doses of the amino acid tyramine. Terrance’s female counterpart, Janine (J-9-X-Ceta-G), had been killed in their escape, but he managed to preserve her body and convey it to Jackson's Whole, where he paid the somewhat unscrupulous House Bharaputra to splice her genes into the ovarian cultures that were intended for Athos. Terrence had planned to also emigrate to Athos with the cultures but had been delayed on his way to Kline Station, and is now horrified to learn that the cultures were stolen and replaced by the useless material that ultimately arrived on Athos. The Cetagandans had trailed a fleeing Terrence to Jackson's Whole; arriving after his departure, they had killed the Bharaputra researchers who had worked with him and destroyed their records. The Cetagandans then tracked the tissue shipment to Kline Station, knowing Terrence would eventually reunite with it, though they have no knowledge of what happened to the original cultures and are desperate to reclaim them. Elli and Ethan manage to have the Cetagandans seized by Kline Station security, just as they discover that a minor official at the station had, for petty personal reasons, "thrown out" the Bharaputran tissue cultures that contained Janine's genes and replaced them with the useless biological material. Elli attempts to recruit Terrence to the Dendarii; he refuses, but gives Elli a small genetic sample. Meanwhile, Ethan has asked Elli for (and receives) one of her ovaries to create a new tissue culture. After her departure, the original Bharaputran shipment unexpectedly turns up intact and usable, not destroyed. Ethan buys a new set of ovarian cultures from Beta Colony anyway as a cover, uses their packaging to relabel the cultures with Janine's genes, and returns with them and Terrence to Athos. Elli's donated ovary culture is an additional, 451st culture. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Ethan of Athos」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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