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Part 2
Part 3
A small crew of doctors and explorers lands on the vivid, alien world of Minos, where the forest glows with copper, purple and fiery reds. Their mission is to assess the planet’s wildlife for any disease that might threaten future colonists, a task made urgent by the memory of vanished settlements and drifting, corpse‑laden spaceways. As they move cautiously through the strange woods, the team’s radios crackle with nervous chatter, and the tension rises when a mysterious, towering figure steps out of the shadows.
The encounter turns unexpected when the native—a tall, red‑haired hunter—greets them in perfect English, claiming a hidden settlement has survived for three generations. The explorers are forced to reconsider their maps and assumptions, confronting a civilization that has lived unnoticed for decades. With curiosity and caution battling side by side, the first act sets the stage for a tense exploration of contact, trust, and the hidden dangers of an unfamiliar world.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (62K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2015-12-27
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1925–2019
A sharp, quietly witty voice in mid-century science fiction, she wrote stories that looked past gadgets to the ways new ideas change people and everyday life. Her work was admired for blending scientific curiosity with real psychological insight.
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