The novel “A Darkling Sea” by James L. Cambias was published for the first time in 2014.

Ilmatar is a moon of a gas giant planet with an ocean of liquid water beneath the thick, frozen surface crust. That ocean is home to complex ecosystems that include a sentient species. A human expedition is on site to study the natives in a collaboration with another alien species, the Sholen, also based on the observation of the natives without getting noticed.

During what’s supposed to be normal scientific activity, Henri Kerlerec, one of the members of the human team, commits an imprudence and loses his life. This starts generating tensions between humans and Sholen with ramifications determined by the presence in both species of factions with different ideas about the policy towards the other species.