The Skinner
From Earth Central
The Skinner, published in 2002, is the first of three novels involving the planet Spatterjay, an out-polity world. It is set after the Prador War during a time of rapprochement between the Polity and the Third Prador Kingdom. During the war, Spatterjay served as the base of operations for its namesake, Spatterjay Hoop, the Skinner who provided captured ECS personnel and other humans to the Prador for thralling as slaves. (Humans are to fragile to survive thralling without the having been first exposed to the Spatterjay Virus.) The Story centers around three visitors from the Polity-- Erlin, Anders, and Sable Keech. Erlin has returned to Spatterjay seeking Captain Ambel, with whom she had had a relationship in the past. Anders serves as a host for a hornet hivemind exploring new worlds. Sable Keech is a dead ECS monitor whose corpse is animated via cybernetics, and who is seeking war criminals from the Prador War.
