
Part 1
A battered freighter limps to a halt on an unfamiliar world after a series of blind jumps toward the Galactic Center. The crew discovers the wreckage surrounded by countless “Fuzzy Tails,” small native creatures that spill out of broken hatches and seem oddly attached to the ship’s pilot. With the stabilizer damaged and supplies dwindling, the crew must improvise repairs while navigating a landscape lit by three suns—a sight none of them expected.
Beyond the crash site lies a sprawling estate guarded by a wiry, outspoken native who speaks an archaic form of English, warning the intruders to stay away. A dark‑haired young woman intervenes, hinting that this settlement may be more than a random outpost and that human blood runs through its veins. As the strangers attempt to barter the exotic fauna for the parts they need, they soon realize they are caught in a delicate dance of misunderstanding, survival, and the promise of deeper secrets hidden beneath the estate’s walls.
Language
en
Duration
~26 minutes (25K 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
2016-03-20
Rights
Public domain in the USA.

1920–1976
A New Orleans journalist turned science-fiction writer, he became known for smart, unsettling stories about warped perception and artificial worlds. His best-known novel, Simulacron-3, helped set the template for later virtual-reality fiction.
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