The 40.000 colonists on Gehenna are abandoned for political reasons. When the re-supply ships fail to arrive, the colony begins to collapse. But the real story is yet to come. Over a period of 200 years, the descendants of the colonists who couldn't impost Terran conditions on Gehenna became a part of Gehennan ecology themselves, by entering a partnership with the planet's native intelligence – the lizardlike, burrowing calibans.


