<p>'There were two kinds of landscape characteristic of the inner planets of the Sun: the purposeful and the desolate.' <p>The planet Quinta is pocked with ugly mounds and covered by a spiderweb-like network draped from spindly poles. It is a kingdom of phantoms and of a beauty afflicted by madness. The Earth spaceship <i>Hermes </i>arrives on Quinta with the best of intentions towards the humans' 'brothers in intelligence'. But something on the planet has gone terribly wrong...</p>