Return to Rocheworld

"Return to Rocheworld" is a 1993 science fiction novel by Robert L. Forward and Julie Forward Fuller. It is the sequel to Forward's "Rocheworld" (a.k.a. "The Flight of the Dragonfly"), a novel about the first manned interstellar mission to a unique double planet.

Having discovered that the Roche lobe of the planet is subject to periodic flooding, the explorers return there to find that Roche also harbors not only life, but intelligence as well. They find a species which they come to call the Gummies, after their reseblance to the texture of gummi candy. These beings are related to the Flouwen of the water-covered Eau lobe, but have evolved in a completely different direction. Built to survive harsh conditions, extremes of temperature, long droughts, and competing for scarce food supplies, these elephant-sized multi-tentacled creatures are far more physical and aggressive than their aquatic ancestors. However, by the end of the novel, they have begun to develop the beginnings of a crude stone age technology.