Camouflage (novel)

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Camouflage is a science fiction novel by Joe Haldeman published in 2004 .

action

Camouflage tells the story of two aliens who have lived hidden on earth for a long time : the changeling and the chameleon . Both come from solar systems in which extreme environmental conditions have forced all living things to become immortal as well as extremely adaptable and changeable.

While the chameleon has been wandering the world in various human forms since prehistoric times , the changeling lived for a long time in the form of marine life in the ocean until one day in the 1930s it decides to rise from the sea in human form. Here he takes on the role of a young man and is first thought to be insane before learning human language. He later took part in the Pacific War on the American side and was beheaded on the Bataan Death March , but survived and learned to feel compassion for people at the sight of all the suffering.

The chameleon, on the other hand, has been torturing people with preference since the Stone Age and takes on various forms, whereby it likes to appear as a tyrant , warlord and despot ; it often embodies, to simulate a human lifespan, entire dynasties of cruel rulers. It finally felt drawn to Berlin in the 1930s and later worked with Josef Mengele in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp , where it enjoyed torture and medical experiments .

While the novel alternately tells the further experiences of the chameleon and the changeling during the twentieth century, another storyline begins in the 2020s: A group of scientists discovers an impossibly dense object in the ocean and manages to land on Samoa . Here it is stated that in all likelihood it did not originate from Earth and a series of experiments and investigations begin. After months, the object responds in a code that cannot be deciphered at first .

Both the chameleon and the changeling are attracted to the object as they both want to know more about their origins. At the same time they are both looking for other aliens; but while the changeling has no hostile intentions, the chameleon feels an irrepressible urge to destroy any potential adversary. Finally, it turns out that as early as 2015, the chameleon had assumed the shape of an American admiral, who later became one of the two heads of the project in Samoa. The changeling can initially take part in the project as a research assistant and comes into possession of the code. When he is exposed by the CIA, he has to flee. Later, the changeling can take a closer look at the artifact in the form of a young woman, where the chameleon awaits him. A brutal fight ensues in which the chameleon tears off the changeling's arm and devours it. However, he was able to identify the code as a song in his home language and sings it to the artifact, which is actually the spaceship of the changeling, and activates it. The ship paralyzes the chameleon and the changeling travels into space with the second project manager, with whom he had developed a relationship in the form of the two young women.

Awards

The novel won the James Tiptree, Jr. Award and the Nebula Award .

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2005 Award Winners & Nominees. In: Worlds Without End. Retrieved August 5, 2009 .