Abner Harris

He came to Earth to destroy Medlins, but killing Darruui seemed a better idea.

Carver

In the interests of Darru supremacy, there was no room for traitors or Earthmen.

Beth

Not even the conflict between Medlins and the Darruui was as important to her as Earth had become.

Coburn

His devotion to Earth meant the obsolescence of his own race.

Wrynn

Were his kind destined to rule the universe or die aborning?

The Voice

It seemed to know all the answers and seemed immune to all adversity.

The prime-class starship Lucky Lady came thundering out of overdrive half a million miles from Earth, and phased into the long, steady ion-drive glide at Earth-norm gravitation toward the orbiting depot. In his second-class cabin aboard the starship, the man whose papers said he was Major Abner Harris of the Interstellar Development Corps stared anxiously, critically, at his face in the mirror. He was checking, for what must have been the hundredth time, to make sure that there was no sign of where his tendrils once had been.

There was, of course, no sign. He looked the very image of an Earthman.

He smiled; and the even-featured, undistinguished face the medics had put on him drew back, lips rising obediently in the corners, cheeks tightening, neat white teeth momentarily on display. It was a good smile; an Earthman’s smile down to the last degree.

Major Harris scowled, and the face darkened as a scowling face should darken.

The face behaved well. The synthetic white skin acted as if it were his own. The surgeons back on Darruu had done their usual superb job on him. His appearance was a triumph of the art.