
A crew of hopeful colonists touches down on Eden XXI, a lush world promised as a fresh start. Commander Saxon, a veteran of the secretive Inhibition Corps, greets them with bright smiles while quietly noting the grim survival statistics that haunt the mission. The settlers begin unloading supplies, unaware that the promised city is little more than a façade. Beneath the verdant canopy, an unseen threat—known only as the Narl— lurks, hinting at a hostile ecosystem.
Saxon’s reports to the cold, calculating Director Gant reveal a disturbing policy: the colony is meant to be throttled, its growth stunted by engineered hardships. He wrestles with the moral weight of sending settlers into a world where famine, disease, or even deliberate sabotage may be the only means to shape a culture. As tensions rise among the colonists and the forest’s strange sounds grow louder, Saxon must decide whether to follow orders or protect the fragile hope of those he’s sent to survive.
Language
en
Duration
~28 minutes (27K 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
Mar 1, 2019
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1924–2003
Best known for lean, fast-moving crime novels, he also moved easily through science fiction and horror, building a small but memorable body of pulp-era work. One of his stories later made it to television through Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
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