Planet of the Gods

Earth's third interstellar expedition has traveled farther than humanity ever imagined, seeking not conquest but knowledge. In the Vega system, they discover two lush worlds orbiting an alien sun, and immediately come under fire from something that wants them dead. Crashed and hiding from a civilization that seems both hostile and strangely welcoming, the crew buries their three dead in alien soil. Then, on the second night, one of the bodies knocks on the door. Something on this world defies everything they know about death, humanity, and the universe. Williams builds his mystery with deliberate unease, letting the wrongness accumulate until that impossible knock becomes inevitable. Part first-contact drama, part cosmic puzzler, this is the kind of story that makes you check over your shoulder. For readers who love vintage science fiction that treats the universe as genuinely strange.