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This novella originally appeared in The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, October-November 2003. It can also be found in the anthology The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-First Annual Collection (2004).

Nebula Award nominated novelette. It originally appeared in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, May 1988. The story can also be found in the anthologies The Year's Best Science Fiction: Sixth Annual Collection (1989), edited by Gardner Dozois and Little People! (1991), edited by Jack Dann and Gardner Dozois.

In the early years of the twenty-first century, Earth teetered on the brink of ecological destruction. Then the alien Hefn came, determined to save the dying Earth -- and to the Hefn, the ends always justified the means. Humans were given nine years to correct their mistakes -- alone, with no recourse to the Hefn's advanced technology. If by then the Earth's ecology had not stabilized, the Hefn would solve the problem for good... by eliminating humans entirely.

But slowly, against their will, some of the Hefn became deeply involved with their human counterparts. And to the handful of people who came to know them, the Hefn made a great difference: as mentors, researchers, rulers... and saviors. But could those few friendships sway the Hefn to help save a despoiled planet -- and the human race?

Hefn aliens arrive on Earth in a multi-faceted exploration of human and alien relationships. By the author of The Ragged World.

The long-awaited conclusion of the Holy Ground trilogy!

Occupation of Earth is now in its 27th year, and relations between humanity and the dictatorial Hefn have never seemed shakier. The aliens mission is to save the planet from its human abusers; and the Baby Ban imposed by mass hypnosis has made Earth a cleaner, wilder, less crowded place. But the Ban has now lasted so long, and provoked such hatred, that when a spark is struck the situation explodes into worldwide riots on one side and retaliatory mindwipings on the other. Years of effort by the eco-spiritual Gaians, who mediate between humans and Hefn, have been destroyed.

While the Gaians regroup and brainstorm frantically in an atmosphere of doubt and danger, one obsessed Hefn and one young woman begin a radical experiment. Pam Pruitt has discovered a growing ability to acquire information by non-rational means. Childhood suffering has empowered her, in a way once understood by hunting and gathering peoples -- an understanding lost with that lost lifeway -- to communicate with mysterious forces through strong dreaming: to function as a shaman on behalf of her community, the human race.