Mitchison deeply explores the idea of galactic exploration on a scientific and ethical level through the perceptions of her narrator Mary. The novum here is not mere space travel, but “communication,” which is psychic/empathic contact rather than simple transmission or speaking, including with dogs and cows. This makes sense from a biological standpoint: the communication of bees and ants, let alone dogs and cows, is communication regardless of whether a person wants to attach the “language” label on it. As such, she can describe a deeper level of alien otherness than most authors sixty years later.