The Lani People

Dr. Jac Kennon, a newly minted veterinarian, answers a too-good-to-be-true job posting and finds himself on the backward planet of Kardon, where humanity has built an empire on the backs of the Lani. These humanoid beings are indistinguishable from humans in form and intelligence, yet they're classed as livestock, bred like horses, and exported across the galaxy as living commodities. The salary was generous for a reason. As Kennon navigates his role tending to these 'animals,' he confronts an unbearable truth: the Lani feel pain, joy, love, and terror. They are people. And everyone else has decided they're not. Written in the 1950s, this is uncomfortable science fiction that uses an alien metaphor to interrogate colonialism, slavery, and the moral gymnastics people perform to dehumanize those they profit from. The horror isn't the premise itself. The horror is how easily society looks away.