The task

The Galateia starship is involved in a serious accident on a primitive, alien planet. An insignificant gauge from one of the engine’s reactors fails, flooding the deck with deadly radiation, destroying some of the crew members faster and some slower. Gill, the ship’s doctor, when he sees they can’t swim alive in the disaster, decides their mission is worth more than all of them. Even if they can’t return to Earth with their scientific findings, the data they collect while observing the primitive inhabitants of the planet, then others will do it for them. With its last strength, it is putting its plan into action, which can only be expected to succeed decades, and even centuries later, when radiation creeps back to life-threatening levels. Because then the recruitment of the new crew can finally begin so that they can complete their work. The task. Perhaps Péter Zsoldos's most famous novel is the cruel drama of the will that survives man's physical existence. Over the years, it has been a television film adaptation, and the book itself has reached readers in half a dozen foreign languages.