A group of aliens sent to Earth from their home world Exoda are tasked with an assessment operation: determine if the Earth should be harvested by the fleet behind them, or let the planet pass. Such a harvesting operation was already conducted by aliens some sixty-five million year ago; but this time the human race is in charge - and thus the planet is the subject of even closer scrutiny. As S. O. E. or Searchers of Ex-O-da evolves, there are points of reference that are fun and odd: for example, the aliens sport human names (Cecil Patrick Randolph, for example) which seem incongruous for an...