
When he opens his eyes, Jadiver finds himself wrapped in a chilling mix of ice and spice, his body patched with synthetic skin over raw flesh. A calm, copper‑haired officer in a dark green uniform explains that a hybrid robot‑human surgeon performed the emergency operation, sealing the wounds with a transparent layer that will later harden. He can’t recall the accident that brought him here, and the reinforced windows show only a barren, alien landscape. The soothing voice hints that the environment outside may be hostile.
As his memory slowly returns, Jadiver senses that his rescue is more than a medical case; the blend of police authority and advanced biotechnology suggests a hidden agenda on the planet’s surface. The synthetic skin not only heals but may give him resistance to the corrosive chemicals threatening the colony. With a mysterious caretaker watching his recovery, he is drawn into a web of intrigue that could reshape his role in the struggle for survival on Venus. Listeners are invited to follow his tentative steps toward discovering who truly controls his fate.
Language
en
Duration
~1 hours (109K characters)
Publisher of text edition
Project Gutenberg
Credits
Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
Release date
2010-04-28
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1915–2004
A mid-century science fiction writer with a sharp, witty touch, he built memorable stories out of big ideas and very human problems. His work appeared widely in the magazine boom of the 1950s, when clever speculative fiction was finding a huge audience.
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