Shroud (2025)

Shroud is a 2025 science fiction novel by Adrian Tchaikovsky. It concerns the discovery of alien life on a lightless moon, and the survival of two human scientists as they are trapped in this hostile environment.

Plot

In the future, Earth has survived a population bottleneck. Humanity has expanded into interstellar space. Companies known as Concerns are focused on relentless resource extraction and expansion, in an attempt to reduce the likelihood of future extinction. The crew of the Garveneer is sent to investigate and prospect a moon named Shroud. Shroud is a pitch-black, high-gravity moon with a thick atmosphere. Despite the lack of visible light, it is highly active on most parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

The Concern builds a space elevator on the surface of Shroud. Drone footage reveals the presence of alien life. Scientist Juna Ceelander and her coworkers are gradually pushed to their limits by corporate oversight. Despite safety concerns, the team prepares for the possibility of a crewed mission to the surface of Shroud. Engineer Mai Ste Etienne designs a pod which can survive the harsh environment of Shroud. The Garveneer collides with a shipment; Juna and Mai shelter in a pod and crash-land on Shroud. Their boss, Oswerry Bartokh, survives in a separate pod.

Large native creatures surround the pods. Juna names them the “Shrouded”. Mai and Juna begin a series of rudimentary communications through electromagnetic waves, revealing that the creatures may be intelligent. The creatures break into Bartokh’s pod, killing him. Mai and Juna flee, pursued by several Shrouded. They are attacked by another creature, but the Shrouded intervene and assist them.

The story shifts to the point of view of the Shrouded. The Shrouded is a hive mind; the creatures seen by Juna and Mai are parts of it, not independent beings. The Shrouded discovers the landing pods, which it names “the Stranger”. It believes them to be two segments of a hive mind like itself. It opens Bartokh’s pod, accidentally killing him. Realizing its mistake, it sends a part of itself to escort the surviving pod. This part assists the Stranger after it is attacked by a native predator.

Mai and Juna journey towards the space elevator, which is their only hope for survival. Along their journey, they are accompanied by segments of the Shrouded. Despite their efforts, misunderstandings persist and communication remains highly limited. The Shrouded and the pod experience damage and numerous near-fatal events, both from other native fauna and from the inimicable conditions of the moon itself. The Shrouded begins to build airships based on human drones, proving to the humans that it is intelligent. Mai and Juna take one of the airships, using it to shorten their journey to the space elevator. Despite significant damage to the pod and the psychological toll of their experiences, Mai and Juna reach the space elevator and are rescued. Shortly thereafter, the Shrouded finds human-made electronic cables and learns more about the nature of electricity.

Back on the Garveneer, Mai and Juna expect to be greeted as heroes. Instead, the Concern decrees that the native Shrouded do not allow any potential for profit. Therefore, the moon should be mined for resources without further scientific study. On the moon, the Shrouded uses human technology to fuse parts of its hive mind into a greater whole. It begins dismantling the mining operation and interfering with company profits. Eventually, it learns to use fiber optics to interfere with human communications. Juna and Mai are ordered to fix the problem. Using information learned from them, the Concern plans to exterminate the Shrouded. The Concern sends an army of drones to the surface of Shroud. When the drones return, they begin firing on the Garveneer's human crew, killing many people. The Shrouded has used its new knowledge to coopt humanity’s weaponry. It shuts down the Garveneer, trapping the surviving humans on board.

The Shrouded does not truly understand humanity, since human bodies do not emit electromagnetic signals in the same way that Shroud life does. Mai and Juna design a brain scanner and install it into the pod. Juna returns to the surface of Shroud, allowing her brain scans to be transmitted to the Shrouded in the hope that it will understand. The Shrouded finds the pod and begins investigating Juna’s mind.

In an epilogue, the survivors aboard the Garveneer receive a message from the Shrouded, indicating that it now understands human language and wishes to communicate.

Major themes

Zorica Lola Jelic wrote about the novel for SFRA Review, commenting on its themes of humanity and colonization. Jelic stated that " For every colonizer throughout history, the category of humanity is stripped down to the notion that white man’s superiority implies morality." Similarly, the crew of the Garveneer is not allowed to contemplate the potential existence of non-human intelligence, as this would interfere with their ability to strip-mine and profit from Shroud. Despite its lack of human emotions, the Shrouded is portrayed as "morally higher" than humanity. In this way, Tchaikovsky critiques modern-day people, portraying a future in which humanity fails to evolve enough to safely make first contact with intelligent life. Finally, Jelic drew a comparison between the rapid learning curve of the Shrouded and the pace of development of artificial intelligence. In Jelic's view, Tchaikovsky is asking "whether we should create more sophisticated AI machines when we are morally so corrupt that we do not recognize the responsibility that goes with such an endeavor."