Five men and two women crashed on the swampy planet Hydrot of the star Tau Ceti. There is no salvation, and at the same time there is. It is in future generations of earthlings who will populate and conquer this planet. But they will be only a few microns in size... James Blish (1921-1975) is a representative of the "golden age" of American science fiction, the owner of "Hugo" for the novel "A Matter of Conscience," the author of many original ideas that inspired science fiction writers of the 1960s-1970s.