The Emerald World

Lyda Mar, Ennerk Prime, Suzanne Oh, and Onnegart Vangralen, four Terranauts exiled to the prison planet Sarym/Surin, are unceremoniously dumped on a white sandy beach by Gray Guards after their plan to signal a returning courier ship fails. They quickly discover that their PSI abilities have been nullified by radiation from the sun Norvo. As the Ringo spacecraft departs, Suzanne Oh becomes trapped by a plant tendril, but Ennerk Prime manages to free her just before the ship's engine exhaust incinerates them.

The group is then attacked by a massive armored lizard emerging from the sea. They flee into the forest, where the lizard succumbs to the planet's toxic vegetation. They encounter Derb Ransih, a green-skinned Surine (resident of Sarym/Surin) who identifies himself as a Mediator, someone who can communicate with the planet's life forms. Ransih leads them to a clearing where they eat fruit-like lumps produced by a "manna tree". That night, while Lyda Mar is on watch, the armored lizard returns. Ransih uses his abilities to manipulate the surrounding plants to kill the lizard, saving Lyda.

Ransih guides them to a Surine village, where they learn that he had disappeared months prior and is considered mentally unstable. They meet Damon Credock and Aschan Herib, two sane Mediators, who explain that Mediators are rare and can influence the planet's plant life. Prime explains their mission: to contact the returning courier ship using a Lodge of Mediators to transmit the contact pattern from Lyda's memory. Credock and Herib agree to help, but explain that there are not enough Mediators in their village to form a Lodge. They plan to present the Terranauts' case at a general assembly of all Surines on the planet.

While preparing for the assembly, Lyda undergoes training with Credock to hone her potential Mediator abilities. However, a crisis arises when a villager, Marc, disappears in the same mysterious way as Ransih had months before. Credock and Herib investigate, finding Marc's footprints simply ending in the middle of the forest. They mention a legend about a "coral city" on the southern continent being responsible for the disappearances. As the group travels to the general assembly, Lyda Mar contracts a deadly "fluorescence mold". Credock attempts to cure her using a "devil's apple," a fruit containing a deadly toxin that kills the mold but also threatens to kill Lyda. Through Credock's efforts and Prime's life-saving resuscitation, Lyda survives, and the mold is eradicated.

They arrive at the general assembly to find Orrogan Gelot, a respected Surine, arguing against any attempt to leave the planet, claiming it would endanger their peaceful existence. Lyda makes a passionate plea, but Gelot counters by challenging them to investigate the legend of the coral city, effectively delaying any decision on their plan. As the booklet ends, a hidden Gray Guard drone disguised as a bird is revealed to be monitoring the assembly, suggesting that their presence has already been detected.