 With the aid of the elected head of the world government, Slayton Ford, Lazarus hijacks the "New Frontiers", a starship designed to travel to distant stars, and liberates the Howards.While the "New Frontiers" was designed to sustain a colony in travel at speeds significantly below the speed of light, a Howard named Andrew Jackson "Slipstick" Libby raises the ship to speeds approaching lightspeed.With the ship thus modified, the Howard Families, under the leadership of Lazarus Long, escape the solar system in search of a planet of their own.