The novella “Turquoise Days” by Alastair Reynolds was published for the first time in 2002.

Turquoise is one of the worlds where the Pattern Jugglers live. They’re sea creatures with mental abilities still only partially understood. On the planet there’s also a human colony studying this species but someone someone become victim and their memories are recorded by them. Naqi and her sister Mina live on Turquoise one day Mina dies swimming with the Pattern Jugglers and is absorbed by them.

Two years later, an interstellar starship arrives in the Turquoise system, the first after many years. It also brings a group of scientists who want to study the Pattern Jugglers of the planet. Naqi becomes suspicious towards them when they ask to have access to an important research station and soon realizes that they’re hiding something.