During a planetary survey, a group of Earth explorers discover a young survivor from a ship that crashed there several years before. He was "adopted" by the planet's non-humanoid natives. The leader of the expedition sees an opportunity to contact the locals (with whom humans are incapable of communicating directly due to vast biological, psychological and sociological differences). Ultimately, the Earthlings are forced to come to grips with the fact that pursuing this goal may be both impossible, and immoral.
This particular book explores the way humans understand their own humanity, rather than a true interaction with an alien race. The aliens are there, but they choose not to be characters in the story. Each human character has their own view of things and of how things should go on. Reading the book, one is forced to evaluate humanity together with the crew of the expedition and the ending becomes irrelevant. The inner exploration of the reader himself becomes the story.
- ISBN13 9781312832251
- Publish Date 23 July 2015
- Publish Status Out of Print
- Out of Print 3 March 2021
- Publish Country US
- Imprint Lulu.com
- Format eBook (OEB)
- Language English