Definition

In a far-future galaxy, trouble-shooters Charles Samson and his wife Midge drift from one rare emergency to the next, their dry domestic banter set against the vast machinery of interstellar civilization. That routine shatters when a minor assignment at remote Kenilworth IV turns into a baffling crisis involving the legendary Kassids, a supposedly wiser race whose return seems to trigger a strange contagion of belief. As Jackson and others abandon their posts under the spell of a mysterious "sermon" of Love, Peace, and a Message for the Universe, Samson and Midge uncover a threat more dangerous than invasion: an idea that compels conversion. With archives offering little help, Samson undertakes a risky, drugged encounter with the Kassids and learns they are not conquerors but carriers of an irresistible Word that can remake entire civilizations. To save humanity, he and Midge resort to deception, persuading the Kassids that humans are merely an unfinished two-stage species and should be left behind. Witty, unsettling, and sharply satirical, the novel turns first-contact science fiction into a meditation on persuasion, identity, and the price of survival. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.