Enemy Mine (novella)

A human pilot and a reptilian alien soldier, enemies in an interstellar war, crash-land together on a barren world. The human, Willis Davidge, taunts his Drac counterpart, Jeriba Shigan, by insulting a revered Drac philosopher; the alien fires back by mocking Mickey Mouse, assuming it is a human icon. But survival on the hostile planet forces them to set aside their conflict. Over time, they learn each other’s language and customs. Jeriba reveals it is pregnant—Dracs reproduce asexually, tracing their lineage through hundreds of generations. Ashamed of his own ignorance, Davidge memorizes the entire Jeriba family history, a three-hour recitation. Shigan wears a Talman, a miniature holy book containing the teachings of Shizumaat. After Davidge apologizes for his earlier insults and forgives “Jerry” for the Mickey Mouse remark, the Drac gives him the book to study. The birth is difficult; Shigan dies after Davidge vows to raise the child, Zammis, in the Drac tradition. Years later, signs of spaceships appear. Davidge is injured on the trek to investigate and sends Zammis ahead alone. Rescued by the United States of Earth, Davidge struggles to reintegrate into a society still hostile to Dracs, even though the war has ended. Keeping his promise, he sells a translation of the Drac holy book to fund travel to a Drac planet. There, he recites the Jeriba line to prove his sincerity, and the family helps him find Zammis in a psychiatric institute where the government plans to re-educate the child out of its love for humans. Davidge and the Jeribas eventually settle on the now-colonized Fyrine IV, where he finds peace in the cave he once shared with Shigan. The novella won the 1979 Nebula and 1980 Hugo awards for Best Novella. It was adapted into a 1985 film directed by Wolfgang Petersen, starring Dennis Quaid and Louis Gossett Jr., produced by 20th Century Fox. A novelization by Longyear and David Gerrold was published that same year. The story was collected in Longyear’s 1980 book *Manifest Destiny*, followed by two sequels, “The Tomorrow Testament” and “The Last Enemy.” All three were gathered in the 1998 collection *The Enemy Papers*, which included a significantly revised “Author’s cut” of the original novella.