The Natives

High above Earth, a young “native” learns to follow the dark, swift visitors that cross his world. These mysterious objects absorb light and heat, trail clouds of charged energy, and give the floating inhabitants the power to surge through the sky. But excitement turns dangerous when the youngster, intoxicated by newfound strength, ventures too close.

Far below—or perhaps from another point of view—a New York-to-Istanbul stratoliner climbs through the ionosphere, its pilot and co-pilot irritated by radar warnings and the strange globes surrounding their aircraft. The crew sees only fleeting flashes and glowing shapes, while the beings outside experience the passage of the plane as an extraordinary event in their own lives. With wit, scientific imagination, and a playful shift in perspective, this story transforms an ordinary flight into a meeting between two unsuspecting worlds.