Janus (Judgement on Janus and Victory on Janus)

1963 & 1966

Judgemnet on Janus

Naill Renfro, like all the inhabitants of the Dipple on the planet of Korwar, is a refugee.

When his mother catches one of the many plagues that sweep the crowded tenements, there is no money for treatment and she has given up hope after watching her husband march off to war and not return. Desperate to ease her pain, Naill sells the last remaining thing he has of value - himself. With the money he has raised he buys enough drugs to keep her blissed out until the inevitable.

He knows that his destination will be a hard place - why else use indentured labour? But the Garthmen of Janus are religious fanatics who lock their women away and work the indentured labour like beasts as they clear the forest that covers the surface of Janus. Punishment is swift and brutal - whipping for those who slack and if you catch the green death abandonment to the forest.

When one of the forest giants is cut down, Niall's eye is attracted by the flash of a golden necklace and he hides it hoping to be able to buy himself out of an indenture growing increasingly intolerable. What he hadn't reckoned on was coming down with the Green Death!

He finds that it does not kill, merely change. As the effects of the fever fade, he finds himself a green skinned Ift, complete with the memories of a being called Ayyar, captain of Iftcan that died many aeons earlier. Still ill and confused, for the memories of Naill Refro war for supremacy with those of Ayyar he seeks sanctuary in the only place he knows on the planet. When approaches the only home he knows on Janus, both a wave of disgust within himself and the fear of the garth holders drive him away, but he is still reluctant to trust himself to the forest, so he is on hand to rescue a new changeling - one of the hidden garthwomen who had defied convention.

Together they dare the depths of the forest trusting more to their awakening Ift memories, especially when they dare the crystal waste of That Which Abode, enemy of the Ift of old. Taken prisoner, they are marched to the heart of It's power where they find more changelings imprisoned. Using a mixture of skill, both Human and Ift, they break free of It and make it to the safety of the centre of their power; the Mirror, which rose against their enemy.

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Victory on Janus (1966)

After their victory over That Which Abode, the Changeling Ift settled down to sleep through the winter, but It has other plans.

The Ift are woken in alarm to find that the humans of the Garths and the portmen, not natural allies, have joined forces to attack the forest. At first, this is in response to attacks being made on them by That Which Abode, but when the Ift uncover that plot, That Which Abode takes a more direct line - somehow taking over the minds of Garth and Port alike and calling them all to the centre of It's power.

Taking courage in both hands, Ayyar scouts behind the entranced terrans - unaffected by the calling power except when he calls on the still present memories of Naill. Breaking free of the malignant influence, he finds himself in an ancient starship but nothing ever built by terran hands.

Calling in the others of his Leaf, their combined abilities are required to destroy the central computer system that is That Which Abode.

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