Nine stories travel through time and space to share insights into the human—and not so human—experience in****this gripping science fiction anthology from respected author and critic Algis Budrys

Through stories of humans mistaken for gods and assimilation into an android society, this stunning collection illustrates our inability to understand and communicate with one another.

In “Silent Brother,” the spaceship Endeavor returns to Albuquerque, New Mexico, from the five-planet solar system of Alpha Centaurus; in an unprecedented move, the UN forbids interviews with the returning astronauts or any examination of the starship, but one man—wheelchair-bound Harvey Cable—thinks he knows the nature of a strange disease that may be spreading. In “Between the Dark and the Daylight,” people trapped under a dome in the aftermath of an expedition that crashes on an unlivable planet find a terrifying way to fight back. “The Man Who Tasted Ashes” is a longtime assassin who meddles in human history; his latest assignment will set off World War III. And nothing is what it seems in a story where a doctor visits a man blinded in an accident. Other tales are populated by humanoids, mutants, parasitic aliens, and a girl with a special gift, who is rejected by others of her kind.