rebeldreams
December 13th, 2008, 10:51 AM
OK, you guys are my last hope!
Many years ago (more than 20!) I read a novel that may or may not have been YA, about a man who returned home from a mission to deep space completely mute and in deep depression. He was assigned a "servitor" who resembled, as far as I recall, a large Roman Centurion's helmet flaoting off the ground (I believe its name was "Wulf" or "Wulff" or something like it.
The servitor's job was to figure out what happened to him on his mission and help him recover.
Through flashbacks, it is revealed that the man (named "Joh" or something like that) had befriended jelly-fish-like "gasbag" aliens after being stranded on their planet, and they finally helped him to escape, sacrificing their lives for him. This drove him insane with guilt.
I'm pretty sure he ended up committing suicide at the very end of the book. Naturally, this had a deep effect on me as a ten-year-old boy, and it's stuck with me ever since. As you can tell, I remember a lot about it, except for the title and author!
Please help! :-)
Many years ago (more than 20!) I read a novel that may or may not have been YA, about a man who returned home from a mission to deep space completely mute and in deep depression. He was assigned a "servitor" who resembled, as far as I recall, a large Roman Centurion's helmet flaoting off the ground (I believe its name was "Wulf" or "Wulff" or something like it.
The servitor's job was to figure out what happened to him on his mission and help him recover.
Through flashbacks, it is revealed that the man (named "Joh" or something like that) had befriended jelly-fish-like "gasbag" aliens after being stranded on their planet, and they finally helped him to escape, sacrificing their lives for him. This drove him insane with guilt.
I'm pretty sure he ended up committing suicide at the very end of the book. Naturally, this had a deep effect on me as a ten-year-old boy, and it's stuck with me ever since. As you can tell, I remember a lot about it, except for the title and author!
Please help! :-)