On the other hand, a colony has been established on Venus, an ocean world with no land masses and no human-breathable atmosphere.
Although Oscar and others exchange the goods for firegems, which are highly valued on Earth, no real attempt has been made to establish how intelligent the cetoids are.
The conclude that the planet is in many ways similar to Earth, and could be terraformed and made eventually inhabitable by humans.
One of the researchers, Hawthorne, a keen diver, has established close relations with Oscar, who guides him into the depths of the ocean.
He sabotages the colony, leaving no-one alive but him, and shoots many cetoids, to make them distrust and fear humans.