Illegal Alien (Sawyer novel)

Illegal Alien, a science fiction and mystery novel by Canadian author Robert J. Sawyer, received the 2002 Seiun Award in Japan for Best Foreign Novel, where Hayakawa Books published it. The hardback edition came out in December 1997, with paperback releases in England during January 1998 and in the United States in January 1999.

The story begins when a damaged alien spacecraft reaches Earth. The aliens, called Tosoks, say their ship broke down in the Kuiper belt, and one of their eight crew members died during early repair attempts. Humans agree to help build the tools needed for repairs, a process expected to take about two years. Frank Nobilio, Science Advisor to the U.S. president, and Cletus Calhoun, a Tennessee-born science popularizer reminiscent of Carl Sagan, serve as the main human ambassadors. For over a year, relations go smoothly; the Tosoks tour major countries and witness the total solar eclipse of August 11, 1999.

Then Calhoun is found dead. His leg was severed by an unknown tool, causing him to bleed out, and his jaw, one eye, and appendix are missing, never recovered. Suspicion falls on the Tosok named Hask, who appears at the crime scene having shed his skin—a possible attempt to hide blood evidence. Hask is arrested and put on trial in Los Angeles. His attorney, Dale Rice, an African-American civil rights lawyer, argues that another Tosok committed the murder. The Tosoks have a strong taboo about internal anatomy, similar to human taboos about sex, so Rice suspects the Tosok surgeon, or a Tosok named Ged who shows unusual interest in courtroom discussions of anatomy, or even the supposedly dead eighth Tosok, who might be alive and hiding.

When Rice raises this last possibility in court, Hask panics and wants to change his plea to guilty, but Rice insists on defending him. Other Tosoks act suspiciously—the surgeon, Stant, pleads the Fifth on the witness stand—leading Frank and Rice to believe the Tosoks are hiding multiple truths. Eventually, Hask persuades Rice to take a day off from court. They secretly travel to the Arctic, where the eighth Tosok, Seltar, is indeed alive. She explains that the other Tosoks, driven by religious beliefs and a desire to protect their species, plan to destroy all intelligent life on Earth, as they have done on other planets.