avatar · scientist · dual personality · fantasy · sci-fi · predator and prey · survival
*Technology has reached its zenith: medicine, robots, planetary colonization—all under control. Humans live for three centuries, their memories of struggle faded. But inside a dream-capsule, the scientist Soren wakes in a foreign world. Here, wild nature reigns, home to unknown creatures and the race of avatars. Soren, pale and out of place, picks his way carefully through the alien undergrowth. Suddenly, from the shadows, Kaelen emerges—the avatar chieftain, skin of deep blue, spear gripped tight. He hates outsiders. Soren’s foot catches a hidden trigger and he tumbles into a deep, dark pit. Kaelen stares down from the edge, weighing a single decision: save the stranger, or leave him to die?*