It transpires the man was a diplomat, and Espejo decides to lie low in the wilderness in the north of the planet's major continent.

After the real Ramón finally sees that he is traveling with a man who bears uncanny resemblance to him, the clone kills his original in an act of desperation and then, assuming his (former?)

The novel ends with him deciding to go back, make peace and reach out to the aliens in an attempt to use their knowledge of the planet's mineral wealth to enrich him.

Dozois conceived of Ramón's name, ethnicity (feeling that Hispanic protagonists were underrepresented in science fiction) and his basic situation, but the story did not proceed far.

The following year, while working as a guest instructor at a Catholic women's college at the invitation of Martin, his friend and colleague, Dozois read the story out loud.

However, Dozois was unable to come up with any ideas on how to proceed and the book remained in his desk drawer until 2002, when he and Martin decided to bring the story to the attention of a third author, Daniel Abraham.