No Highway - Plot Summary

Plot Summary

The anti-hero of the story, Theodore Honey, is engaged in research on the fatigue of aluminium airframes. His current project, overseen by Dr. Dennis Scott, is to investigate possible failure in the high aspect ratio tailplane of a new airliner, the fictional Rutland Reindeer. Honey, a widower, in addition to his work, must bring up his young daughter, Elspeth. The events are narrated by Scott in the first person.

Honey is unimpressive in appearance and is so intensely focused on his work that his relations with the outside world—never that good to begin with—suffer badly. Throughout the story, people judge him by that appearance, or by his varied and unconventional outside interests, such as pyramidology -- the study of possible esoteric interpretations of the Pyramids.

Honey has predicted, by a (fictional) theory supposedly related to quantum mechanics, that it is possible for an alloy structure to fail long before the design life customarily predicted by design standards. He is using a spare tailplane from a Reindeer aircraft in a fatigue test. Honey's theory predicts that the metal at the root of the tailplane will fatigue and fail with a crystalline fracture. For Honey this seems merely to be an esoteric and engaging problem in pure science; for Scott it is a concern of the first magnitude, as Reindeers are crossing the North Atlantic daily, carrying hundreds of passengers. Honey's prediction becomes all the more alarming when Scott links it with the recent crash of a Reindeer carrying the Soviet ambassador, which had total flying hours close to Honey's estimate, and which crashed in northeastern Quebec. The crash report, including photographs, is inconclusive, and Scott feels that the remains of the aircraft must be physically examined.

Honey is sent to Canada to examine the debris of the crash, travelling on board a Reindeer aircraft on which he meets the two heroines of the novel, Corder and Teasdale. During the flight, when Honey discovers from the cockpit crew that the flying hours of this aircraft are twice those of any other Reindeer in service, and are close to his predicted failure time, he becomes increasingly anxious for its safety. He confides in Teasdale, whose films he admires, and goes on to give her some advice of the safest place to go to in the aircraft in the event of a crash. Despite his alarm, he remains persuasive and sincere and impresses Corder and Teasdale. He also impresses the pilot, Samuelson, who knew the captain of the recently crashed Reindeer and had rejected with scorn the conclusion reached by the official inquiry that the crash occurred as a result of pilot error.

During a heated discussion during a stop-over at Gander International Airport, Honey realises that he has failed to persuade anyone to declare the Reindeer unfit for service, and in desperation disables it by raising its undercarriage while it is standing on the runway.

Honey is recalled to Farnborough after this sabotage but is delayed because the Commercial Air Transport Organisation, the fictional operator of the damaged aircraft, refuses to carry him. While he is away, trouble arises on a second front. For the duration of his trip, he has abandoned Elspeth with only the supervision of the unreliable cleaning woman in their shabby, neglected home in Farnham, near his work. Shirley Scott finds Elspeth ill—confirming her misgivings about the state of Honey's home life—and nurses her. Elspeth displays a touching mix of precocity and serious intelligence but betrays Honey's hobbies of spiritualism and prophecy. That notwithstanding, Elspeth's outlook is tempered with serious thought and childhood happiness in simple things.

Teasdale visits Dr. Scott at Farnborough and relates her story of events to the Director of the RAE before offering Elspeth some feminine care and affection. Her affection for Honey is obvious, but she realizes it is not to be—she cannot give him children or sustain him in his work. She is rapidly followed by Corder who bears Honey's letter of resignation to Scott and her own account of the events in Gander.

By the time Honey returns, Scott has left for Canada to retrieve the tailplane roots. On reaching the crash site he discovers that the parts of the aircraft adjacent to where the tailplane separated have been removed by the Soviet party who came to recover the body of their Ambassador. The Soviet authorities suspect that the crash was part of a plot to assassinate their ambassador and are wholly unhelpful when approached for information about the missing tailplane root. The tailplane itself remains lost in the wilderness, but must be found if there is any hope of proving metal fatigue. Honey comes to the rescue, but in a highly unorthodox way. He puts his daughter into a light trance which, to Corder's shock, Elspeth has clearly experienced before. Using a planchette and automatic writing, a message is written UNDER THE FOOT OF THE BEAR. Sceptical of the message's value, the Director refuses to send it to Scott and a heated exchange follows. The Director points out that the bear could just as plausibly refer merely to the Soviet Union and that the message tells them no more than they already know. With Corder's and Samuelson's help and their C.A.T.O. contacts, Honey manages to have the message passed to Scott in the Canadian woods. Scott and his party work out that the bear could refer to a lake, Dancing Bear Water, 30 or 40 miles back along the flight path of the lost aircraft and there, in due course, they find the tailplane - and its front spar root reveals a classic fatigue fracture. The find vindicates Honey's theory and makes him a minor hero in aviation circles—to which he is indifferent. His early warning even allows for a timely redesign by the manufacturers, ensuring no loss of service of the Reindeers over the Atlantic. Corder and Honey marry.