The novel “The Making of the Representative for Planet 8” by Doris Lessing was published for the first time in 1982. It’s the fourth novel of the Canopus in Argos series and follows “The Sirian Experiments”.

Planet 8 has been a utopia for centuries thanks to the ideal environmental conditions for the life of the sentient species that inhabits it. However, when the planet suddenly enters an ice age, the conditions change dramatically within a few decades, and many planetary life forms are struck hard.

Doeg is one of the Representatives of Planet 8 who, among other things, acts as an intermediary with the agents of Canopus who arrive on their world. According to Canopus’ plans, the inhabitants of Planet 8 will be transported to the planet Rohanda to join the race that already inhabits it, so why don’t their spaceships arrive? Johor, a Canopus agent, arrives to explain what happened.