Plateau, a colony in the Tau Ceti system, was settled by humans some 300
years before the plot begins. The colony world itself is a Venusian type
planet with a dense, hot, poisonous atmosphere. It would be otherwise
uninhabitable, except for a tall monolithic mesa that rises 40 miles up
into a breathable layer in the upper atmosphere. This gives the planet a
habitable area about half the size of California. The Captain of the
first colony vessel named the feature Mount Lookitthat (from his
interjection at first sight of it), and the colony became known as
Plateau.
After landing the slower-than-light ships, the Crew sign an agreement,
called the Covenant of Planetfall, with their former passengers (who had
just emerged from suspended animation and were in a weak bargaining
position). This agreement gives the Crew (and their descendants in
perpetuity) all control over the new colony. A system of medical care
evolves, in which organ transplantation is the only method of treatment,
even for cosmetic defects (such as baldness); a justice system evolves,
with all crimes punishable by death, followed by involuntary donation of
the decedent's transplantable organs (including skin, scalp, and teeth).
Not surprisingly, only Colonists are ever arrested for crimes; and only
Crew are eligible to receive transplants. Some Colonists become
dissatisfied with the system and form a dissident group called the "Sons
of Earth."
