The story here reads like a prelude to our future coexistence with artificial intelligence (or even our current existence if you put it in a religious context).
The relationship between Lrondi and Pelopan should give pause to anyone concerned with the exercise of free will, especially if you happen to fall into the camp of the “collected”.
The tension in the plot took a while to build up as the authors tried to cover all the bases (pardon the pun). Unfortunately, the transition from one storyline to another was at times anti-climatic, as if you’re watching the final seconds of a ball game, and the telecast gets cut off to run a commercial.
The ending seemed a bit rushed (and anti-climatic), with the Lrondi issue only resolved superficially. Given that the invasive nature of the species has wide-ranging implications, one would expect Starfleet command to deal with it in a more comprehensive manner, whatever the Prime Directive says.
Then there are several tiny errors, some related to continuity (e.g. the first sentence mentioned someone, but in the next, someone else replied.)
