The Shadows - Leigh Brackett

Short Story

Number of words : 6000
Percent of complex words : 6.6
Average syllables per word : 1.4
Average words per sentence : 11.6


READABILITY INDICES

Fog : 7.3
Flesch : 76.9
Flesch-Kincaid : 5.4



SETTING

Unnamed planet under a blue star.


CHARACTERS

Barrier

Experienced older Ground Exploration team leader.

Hubbard

Ground Exploration team anthropologist.

Kendall

Ground Exploration team lead.

Aiken

Ground Exploration team archaeologist.

Caffrey

Ground Exploration team geologist.

Schmidt

Ground Exploration team entomologist.

Gordon

Ground Exploration team zoologist.

Morris

Ground Exploration team communicator.

Captain Verlaine

Master of the Survey ship.

Cristofek

Chief of Technical.


ORGANISATIONS

Galactic Survey

Sender of ships to other worlds.


RACES

Mists

Inimical alien life form on this planet.

The Shadows

Like dogs, waiting to be able to see and warn man and help again.


PLOT

Barrier is an older experienced leader of a mostly younger Ground Exploration Team for the Galactic Survey. He is growing increasingly despondent and ground down at the hostility towards man in the environments and planets he has visited.

This planet appears to be more of the same as strange mistlike beings herd and frighten and even may destroy team members. Until he realises that there is more than one group, and though scary in appearance, The Shadows actually want to help and befriend them. The past history of the planet, seen in ruins, tells why.


4 out of 5