Description
Marion Zimmer Bradley was a popular American writer best known for her science fiction and fantasy novels, among which the most notable being The Mists of Avalon and the Darkover Serries. The Colors of Space is yet another fantasy set in a distant future of humanity, where the aliens Lhari guard the secret of the warp drive interstellar travel aggressively. The story follows the main protagonist Bart Steele. He is a recent Space Academy graduate who plans to return to his father, a prominent business man who runs a fleet of space ship. However, it seems that humans do not have the technology for interstellar travel, and that the alien race Lhari, who do have the secret, allows them to travel only in the dark and under cold sleep. Bart intends to uncover their secret and give humankind the knowledge for warp drive. In this future world, some humans have evolved with certain genetic mutations. These mutations allow them to see the world in a slightly different optical spectrum, and they are said to be able to see the eight color. Besides seeing the universe differently, they are also able to withstand the conditions of the planets where the alien race Lhari live. People with these mutations are called Mentorians, and they act as middle men and intermediaries between humans and aliens. It also appears that Bart Steele has some of these abilities. He is half Mentorian, meaning that he has the abilities to see what normal humans cannot see. He undergoes surgical operation in order to alrer his appearance and to manage to be hired as a Lhari on a space ship is set to depart for the homeland. In The Colors of Space, Bart will try to steal the secret of the Warp Drive from the Lhari, so will he succeed where so many other spies have failed?