
Transcriber's Note:
Stranded alone in a stark cell on an alien world, Korvin finds himself a prisoner of the Tr’en—an efficient, almost mechanical species whose entire culture revolves around flawless logic. Deprived of any human contact, he spends days trying to coax meaning from a language that translates words perfectly but leaves the subtleties of intent lost, while his own mental powers prove useless against the alien technology. The story opens with his restless boredom and a growing longing for even the smallest hint of conversation.
When a green‑skinned Tr’en named Didyak finally steps into the cell, the encounter becomes a study in cultural misunderstanding as both parties navigate a ritual of identification and guarded curiosity. Through crisp, mathematically precise dialogue, Korvin learns that the Tr’en view communication as a formal exercise, not a bridge to empathy. The tension between his human need for connection and the alien's detached efficiency drives the narrative forward, promising a thoughtful exploration of what it really means to be understood across worlds.
Language
en
Duration
~25 minutes (24K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Sankar Viswanathan, Greg Weeks, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2009-09-19
Rights
Public domain in the USA.
Subjects

1933–2002
A prolific American science fiction writer, he built a career that stretched across more than 50 years and ranged from sharp satire to fast-moving adventure. He also wrote under several names, leaving a large and varied body of work for genre readers to discover.
View all books
by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer

by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer

by Laurence M. Janifer

by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer
by Laurence M. Janifer

by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer

by Randall Garrett, Laurence M. Janifer
by Laurence M. Janifer