The book you are now reading reveals the experiences of Dr Hera Melhuish during her last few months on the planet Paradise. Dr Melhuish, let us recall, was the last human being
to escape from Paradise. None have returned since and none will ever do so, for that planet is now closed to us. Absolutely. Thus this biography, as much the biography of that world as of the
woman, while it does not end in death, has something equally final about it.

It will come as a surprise to some readers that a writer such as myself, better known (if known at all) as a writer of fiction for children, should now turn my hand to a work of non-fiction, a
biographical work no less. In explanation let me say that this was not an honour I sought. The invitation to collaborate with Dr Melhuish was completely unforeseen. However, it arrived on my desk
during one of the dark periods of my creative life – a time that all writers know well – when I was full of doubt and seeking a new direction. Thus the timing of her letter, as with so
much else concerning Paradise, had a certain appropriateness.

At that time my knowledge of Dr Hera Melhuish consisted only of what was available on the public record. She had been director of the Observation, Regeneration and Botanic Expansion (ORBE)
project on Paradise at the time of the planet’s Disestablishment. Dismissed from this position for alleged misconduct, she nevertheless contrived to return to the planet on a solo mission and
was, for a significant time, the only human being there. After a near-fatal accident, Dr Melhuish was joined by her ‘research assistant’ Mack – of whom more later. Together they
discovered, and saved, the last living example of the
Dendron Peripatetica
, hitherto believed extinct. Later Mack died after encountering a rogue Michelangelo-Reaper, and Hera continued
her journey alone across this now hostile planet. She was finally rescued just before the shuttle platform over Paradise began its final disintegration.

These are the bare bones of Dr Melhuish’s story. However, it was the live transmission of the programme called
The Saving of the Dendron
which most caught the attention of the
general public. Many of you will remember this programme, which was in continuous transmission for almost three days and did more to awaken public awareness of the deep issues behind our journeying
into space than the thousands of documents issued annually by the Space Council.

For me, this broadcast was a seminal moment in my life. For the first time I witnessed the kind of contact with an alien life form that I had dreamed about since being a child. Not only did the
Dendron fulfil the deepest needs of my imagination, but I was one of those many viewers who felt the impact of the creature’s psychic presence at the moment of its severance. We were
attending a birth, and while the delight of that moment has dimmed over time, its memory lingers in the most private parts of my being. It was a very pure and personal contact, and any doubts I may
have had concerning the cultural importance of alien contact were dispelled by what I saw and felt. In those few moments I became vividly aware of the possibilities offered by our venture into
space, and at the same time critical of what we had accomplished to date.

Before making a formal acceptance of Dr Melhuish’s offer, I reviewed the tri-vid
The Saving of the Dendron
. I also read most of Dr Melhuish’s published works, and this
almost undid the entire project for I discovered that Hera Melhuish is herself a fine writer. I could not understand why she could not undertake the task herself. For those who do not know her
work,
Tales of Io and Me
is a delightful collection of bedtime stories for children. They have as their heroine a certain little girl who, not unlike their author, travels widely, having
adventures in strange places.
Of Canals and Caves
is a personal memoir which gives a spirited account of Hera’s diving explorations in the deep subterranean lakes on Mars and her
discovery there of the luminous burrow worms. In
Beyond Orion
, written shortly after she joined the ORBE project on Paradise, Hera offers her vision of the possibilities for space travel
via fractal gates and our responsibilities concerning alien contact. In sum, the scathing prose of her political pamphlet ‘Saving Gaia’ is matched by the light-hearted humour of her
various stories for children. Stirring stuff! I found in these books a breadth of vision which I could share.

At the end of my reading I wrote to Hera. I had three main concerns. Firstly, I freely admitted that my scientific knowledge is superficial. What I do not know, I invent – a practice well
suited to fiction but hardly acceptable for a scientific inquiry. Secondly, I felt Dr Melhuish, on the evidence of her own works, was well qualified to handle her own story. And finally, why me? My
strengths, such as they are, are in the fanciful, the dark and the mysterious. When I come down to earth I become leaden. I prefer the storm to the rainbow. I have also been criticized because my
stories are pagan in background and savage in event. In sum, I could name ten or twenty writers whom I would regard as more qualified than me to tell her biography. But of course it was not really
a biography that she wanted; it was an evocation.

Her reply to me was characteristically direct.

To hell with the science. You can leave that to me, not that there will be much science in the story I want to tell. The nearest we will come to physics is pataphysics! If
we talk briefly about the ‘survival of the fittest’, we will talk longer about love and courage, reason and sacrifice.

The first thing to realize is that most of the things that happened on Paradise can not be explained in a rational way – which is not to say they don’t have a reason. Paradise
was never rational in our way, and the challenge is to understand it in its own terms. That in turn will tell us about the greater reality of the universe.

You wonder why I do not write my own story. The truth is I have tried many times – but am too close to it. When I try to write about those days, I find myself so close to the events
that I become like a log of wood in the fire, unable to help myself or stop the burning. There is so much I want to tell. I want to reveal why Paradise was disestablished in the first place
– that itself is a dirty story, and I to my shame was no saint. I want to convey the impact Earth had on that solitary world and how it learned to respond in self-defence. I want to tell
what it was like to stand inside the living body of a Dendron as its codds beat to survive. I want to tell why I am covered with the dark stains of the weeping Michelangelo, and to tell in
detail what happened to Mack, who is the unsung hero of all my adventures.

Let me confess something. At the inquiry after my rescue from Paradise I said that Mack was killed by a Michelangelo-Reaper. That is not strictly true. Mack, who was dearer to me than my own
shadow, chose to join with the Reaper, while I, who loved him and Paradise more than myself and would have stayed there willingly as a slave if need be, was, in effect, dismissed both by him
and the planet. My consolation has been my memories and my awareness that ‘They also serve who only stand and wait.’ It was the pain and privacy of that parting which kept me silent
for many years. Can you understand that? I think you can for it is women’s logic, as old as time. But I knew I would have to speak out one day. Well, now is the time. Now, like the
Ancient Mariner, I feel an irresistible urge to tell my tale. And you must help me. You must question me until, like the sea in Yvegeny’s poem, I begin to yield up my monsters.

Whatever else it does, the writing must convey the deeper, more imaginative order which underlies all those experiences. I have admired your books, enjoying the strange creatures you create
from your imagination, your sense of wonder, as well as your willingness to acknowledge the darkness that can hide in the heart of man. If your style is slightly old-fashioned, as some of your
critics maintain, that to me is an advantage, as is your gentle wit. In sum, I feel confident you are the best equipped person to tell this story. And if it is more understood by the children,
well so be it.

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