Letter from the Planet Aurigae 2 summary..
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The entire story is contained in 7 letters, written by Skander, from the planet Aurigae II to a human on Earth.
The human is reffered to as Pen Pal.
Skander receives a letter from the intersteller constellation club and finds the description of Earth 'exciting' and expresses his desire to live there for a while
In the first letter, he mentions that he has a 'suggestion in this connection' but he won't mention it right away.
The planet of Aurigae is extremely hot, the temperature there being more than 250 degrees Celsius.
The material on which the letter was written was dipped in Tungsten. It is a highly sensitive material and very thin.
Earth paper could not be held by Skander without damaging it, because his fingers were too hot to do so.
Hence, Pen Pal was instructed to use the special material provided to him by Skander to write his reply.
It is revealed that Skander is in prison and has 30 more years to serve. He was imprisoned because he performed forbidden experiments upon his body in a way that was deemed to be dangerous.
He mentions that he would love to leave his body behind and tour the universe, but doesn't provide much information on this topic.
He tells Pen Pal the characteristics of his people such as they live longer due to the enduring material with which they are made, they are radioactive and a hydrocarbon form of life.
Skander then includes a photographic plate with which
he instructs Pen Pal to take a picture of himself and send it to him.
Pen Pal gets the photographic plate checked by a doctor
and he took the problem up with govt. authorities.
The plate is not returned to Pen Pal and Skander sends him another one so that Pen Pal can send him the picture.
Pen Pal is warned against continuing this correspondence.
Skander really wants that picture as a "momento of their friendship"
Pen Pal is referred to having a relapse and says he shall send the picture as soon as he feels better.
The photograph finally arrives.
Skander is revealed to be a Chunky, metallic looking chap.
As he has constantly mentioned his desire of escaping prison
and discovering other galaxies, he decides to finally reveal his plan.
The process involves an exchange of personalities with someone else. For this, it is necessary to get an impress of both individuals- of their mind and thoughts as well as their bodies. It's a mechanical process and only a matter of taking compelete photographs.
The next step is to make sure that the 2 pictures are exchanged. The 3rd step is when he activates the sub-space energy flow between the 2 photographic plates. Skander says he has already set the energy in motion and soon he shall live in Pen Pal's body and he in Skander's.
Skander says Pen Pal can reclaim his body 30 years later, whatever form in which Skander last happened to occupy it
Pen Pal reveals that the final decision was really upto him whether Skander can acquire his body or not because the govt. scientists already analyzed the nature of the photographic plate and he knew. Pen Pal says the jokes on Skander as Pen Pal's human body has been paralyzed since birth and subject to heart attacks, and cannot have a long life span.
The once lonely Pen Pal is enjoying himself in Aurigae and is happy to sign himself with a name to which he expects to be accustomed- Skander.
CONCLUSION
Skander trapped Pen Pal into his scheme very cunningly. He never made his intentions clear in the beginning for it was a possibility that Pen Pal would have backed out of the intended plan. He coaxed Pen Pal to forward his picture or impression on a specific chemical-metal plate and returned his to him in the similar manner. Then, only when the plan was set, Skander, through radioactive rays, exchanged their bodies, without Pen Pal’s consent.
But he falls in his own trap.
In the Letter from the Planet Aurigae, there is a character Sikander who believes that people are more spiritually enlightened and know the way to bring the soul out of any physical form, he suggested this in order to take a tour around the world.
The whole chapter revolves around this idea and how the body of the Aurigae beings endure higher mortality rate.