Holes, The

The Holes begins with a simple landing on a quiet, sandy world where nothing should be alive—and nothing should be waiting. But when Mapping Command veteran Frank Royal and his overeager partner McCabe investigate a perfectly round shaft plunging into darkness, they uncover something far stranger than geology. Every test fails, every assumption crumbles, and the holes begin to suggest a pattern no human mind wants to accept. As the men race across the planet, each discovery deepens their unease: bottomless shafts, increasing diameters, and signs the tunnels are fresh—recently carved and impossibly clean. For Royal, instinct takes over, and the truth he pieces together is more terrifying than any alien predator. What looks like intelligence may actually be something worse. By the end, survival becomes the only goal. Michael Shaara, long before winning the Pulitzer Prize for The Killer Angels, wrote bold and clever science-fiction stories that blended suspense, character chemistry, and unsettling speculation. His early work shows the sharp instincts of a writer fascinated by human decision-making under pressure. Shaara’s sci-fi often explored the thin line between bravery and foolishness, and how ordinary people react when the universe refuses to behave. Shaara’s remarkable range—from war epics to eerie planetary mysteries—continues to earn him admiration across genres. The Holes stands as a glimpse of the imagination that would later make him one of America’s most respected storytellers.