The distant future. Humanity went into space and settled among distant stars. And now there is a protracted bloody war between its parts. One of the warring parties is subjected to a series of sabotages that undermine the very basis of its security. These sabotages are accompanied by radio transmissions encoded in a strange code conventionally called “Babylon-17.” For decryption, the army leadership decides to invite the famous poetess Ridra Wong, a former employee of the cryptographic department. © cherepaha Included in: - the anthology “The Sixth Palace”, 1991 - the anthology “The Witch Queen of Lochlenn”, 1993 - the anthology “City of Death”, 1995 - Lightspeed magazine, Issue 48, May 2014, 2014

Awards and awards: Nebula Award, 1966 // Novel Award nominations: Hugo Award, 1967 // Novel James Award Tiptree Jr. / James Tiptree Jr. Award, 1995 // Retrospective Tiptri based on materials from the site FantLab