Iceworld
by Hal Clement
  

Astounding Science Fiction: October, November, & December 1951

Gnome Press: New York, 1953
216 pages
  

The alien is observing from a starship:

A chill came back to Ken's skin. The satellite had been frightening; the planet itself could be little if any warmer since it must be about the same distance from the sun. An atmosphere would help a little, of course; but still — cold enough to freeze potassium, and lead, and tin! ...

His imagination was good — perhaps a little too good; and it began conjuring up out of nothing in particular an image of a world chilled to the core. It was rough, and an icy blizzard played over it, and nothing moved in the dim reddish light — a planet of death.

But that couldn't be right; there were natives. Ken tried to imagine the sort of life that could exist under such hideous conditions, and failed completely.
  

Earth, really, is not as bad as all that. Some people are even quite fond of it. Ken, of course, was prejudiced, as anyone is likely to be against a world where water is a liquid — when he has grown up breathing gaseous sulfur and, at rare intervals, drinking molten copper chloride.
  

The mitigating circumstances are mutual, because we have two viewpoint threads alternating here, that of Sallman Ken who is evolved to live comfortably on his quite hot home-planet; Ken is a science teacher, not a scientist or expert but possessing a good general scientific knowledge. The other viewpoint is that of several members of a Terrestrial family who of course are evolved to live comfortably on our quite cold planet. The characters all are engaging, and Iceworld weaves their viewpoints, thoughts, and actions very well. The family on Earth includes young people of various ages, so this is a fine novel for teenagers as well as adults.
  

Sallman Ken has been brought to Earth — or at least as close to it as the Iceworld's destructive climate will allow — to solve a technical problem for a criminal syndicate of his race. They want a product found on Earth, one which is extremely valuable but so far unsynthesizable. What is it, in its natural state? How to boost their profits by getting or creating more of it? As defined, a general scientific problem, which is why the syndicate has engaged a schoolteacher with an all-around scientific knowledge. This in fact is Clement's own background and profession, so despite Ken's alienness, his character is drawn true to life.

The obvious physical barrier and scientific challenge is the scarcely imaginable temperature contrast between the aliens and the world of their interest. A differently tricky difficulty is that the rather unadventurous Ken has been talked into acting as an undercover investigator for his homeworld police. Naturally, the humans on the ground have their own motivations.

Very enjoyable.

© 2010 Robert Wilfred Franson