Definition

A pair of veteran patrol officers, spending long stretches of routine travel between assignments, are sent to an isolated outpost to investigate reports that a charismatic preacher has persuaded large numbers of colonists to abandon their work. Transmissions link the phenomenon to ancient legends called the Kassids and describe one pursuer being destroyed while attempting to intervene. The officers must make contact, gather facts about how the Kassids inspire followers, and resist the same persuasive contagion that has already upended settlements. The narrative contrasts everyday human concerns with the unsettling social and operational disruption that contagious ideas can cause.