The novel “The Android’s Dream” by John Scalzi was published for the first time in 2006.

The relationship between humans and the Nidu undergo a sharp deterioration when a human diplomat causes the death of a Nidu colleague. The aliens are militarily much more powerful than humans and, despite the existence of interstellar treaties involving many species, the situation could escalate into an armed conflict.

A hope for humanity lays in a very important ceremony that will soon mark the rise to power of a new Nidu leader. Providing a sheep for the ceremony would be seen as a strong sign of friendship but it’s an animal of a very special breed called Android’s Dream. A Nidu faction hostile to the new leader has succeeded in exterminating the sheep of that breed and Harry Creek, a really special employee of the State Department, must protect an a unique “speciman” that still contains the DNA of that breed of sheep.