Wired kicks off its first-ever science fiction issue with a short story by NK Jemisin, whose novel The Fifth Season won the best novel prize at the 2016 Hugo Awards.
It's a snappy alien-human first contact story of the sort you'd hope for from a major talent like Jemisin: futuristic and humanistic at once.
My first professor in sapio told me never to "Earthropomorphize" xenospecies, but the first thing that leapt into my mind when I saw them was that the Manka look like upright cheetahs (cheetae?). Males and females are indistinguishable to my eyes, lean and deep-chested, while nurturers, the third sex, are noticeably more muscular and squarely built. I pride myself in that my subconscious at least selected a predatory Earth analogue, which should keep me from relaxing my guard too much.
THE EVALUATORS: TO TRADE WITH ALIENS, YOU MUST ADAPT
[NK Jemisin/Wired]
