I just finished Mack Reynolds’ Ultima Thule, a futuristic account of interplanetary exploration/occupation.
In the story, groups go out with their ideals, take a planet for their own,
and endeavor to live within their belief system. They are all looking for
the Ultima Thule, that place beyond what is known, with a desire to attain “unattainable” goals. It is westward expansion on a different playing field. No
matter what the frontier, no matter what the goal, both are bound to be
altered, subverted, evolved, and ultimately unrecognizable.