that because it was written in the mood of the reaction to the Vietnam War, it was "not meant to be entertainment". Primary characters Don Davidson Captain Don Davidson begins the novel as the commander of Smith Camp. He is described as being of "euraf" descent. Shortly before the events of the novel, Davidson rapes Thele, Selver's wife, who dies in the process. After Smith is destroyed by Selver and his compatriots, Davidson is relocated to a camp called New Java, where he leads reprisals against the Athsheans against orders. He is eventually captured and abandoned on an isolated island by the Athsheans. He is portrayed as a relentless and uncompromising figure, always planning how to overcome an unfriendly natural environment and conquer the natives, whom he sees as inferior. The language used in Davidson's internal monologues reveals his hatred and contempt for people different from himself. Initially, this hatred is directed at the Athsheans, whom he sees as nonhuman and refers to as "creechies" (a derivative of "creatures"). However, his contempt extends to the women in the colony and eventually to other members of the military, who follow the Colonel's orders not to fight the Athsheans. He has racist feelings towards the South Asian anthropologist Raj Lyubov, stating that "some men, especially, the asiatiforms and the hindi types, are actually born traitors." In contrast to Lyubov and Selver, he is depicted as a person who is not self-aware, whose self-hatred and rigid mental attitude are his undoing. He rejects out of hand anything that does not conform to his beliefs, dismissing anyone who disagrees with him as "going spla" (insane). Selver Selver is the chief Athshean protagonist of the novel. He is training to become a dreamer among the Athsheans when the Terrans colonize Athshe, and Selver is enslaved. Selver, referred to as "Sam" by the Terrans, is initially used as a manservant in the colony headquarters, before Lyubov comes across him and takes him on as an interpreter and assistant. They quickly form a bond, and Selver helps Lyubov understand both the Athshean language and their method of dreaming. Although Lyubov is willing to allow Selver to escape, Selver tells him that he will not because his wife Thele is also a slave at the camp. After learning this, Lyubov allows the two to meet secretly in his quarters; however, Thele is raped by Davidson, and dies in