The Forerunner Factor

Two Andre Norton Forerunner novels, Forerunner and Forerunner: The Second Venture, featuring young Forerunner/human hybrid Simsa, collected for the first time in one volume. Forerunner: On ancient port world planet Kuxortal, young Simsa grows up among garbage pickers who live upon the ancient ruins of a fallen galactic civilization—the Forerunners. But Simsa has always been different. When Simsa's mentor dies, she must scrape a poor existence from an unyielding planet. But then Thom, a star ranger, arrives from the heavens, and he leads Simsa on a path to the discovery of her origins that takes both through danger to the ultimate revelation. Forerunner: The Second Venture: Simsa has escaped the criminal guilds of Kuxortal only to find herself held prisoner by starfaring humans intent on discovering the secrets of the Forerunners contained within her. With the aid of her pet zorsal, Simsa escapes her captors and crash lands on a sandy world full of danger and mystery—another world touched by ancient Forerunner civilization. Now Simsa must escape death at alien hands while battling the spirit within her that seeks to possess her very being and transform her into something utterly inhuman.