Night of Masks

Night of Masks (1964) is a standalone SF novel in the Dipple universe. A decade after the war, the Displaced Persons center remained on Korwar. Some inhabitants of the Dipple found their way out by working as casual laborers in Tikil, others by shipping offplanet in frozen sleep and a few by buying membership in the Thieves Guild. In this novel, Nik Kolherne was one of the unlucky ones who stayed behind in the center. He had been evacuated from his planet on a space freighter that was forced down by the enemy. Most of the crew and passengers had died in the crash, but Nik was saved from the wreck. After the rescue, the Dipple medical staff tried to regrow the torn and burned flesh on his face, but the attempts were unsuccessful. His disfigurements disturbed possible employers, so he cannot find a job on the outside. He even habitually hides his features from his fellow residents. One day, Nik is settling down in a warehouse to listen to another fantasy escape tape when he overhears three men discussing an illegal operation. Although he stays as quiet as possible, one detects his presence and lifts him out of his hiding place. Another hits him and knocks him unconscious. When Nik recovers, he finds himself in the home of Stowar, a man with connections and one of the conspirators. Captain Leeds -- the spacer who had discovered his presence -- recruits Nik for a risky proposition that will entail replacement of his face. Nik will do anything for a new face. In this story, Nik is inserted onto the villa grounds, appearing to Vandy as a fantasy hero from the child's dreams, and conducts him to a lifeboat that will take them away from Korwar. They travel in stasis and Nik does not recover consciousness until the LB is about to land. Vandy becomes frightened by the pressure and seems to be questioning the Hacon identity, but Nik calms the boy until they have landed. Dis is a planet of a red dwarf that doesn't emit visible light. The infra-red starshine leaves the world in perpetual darkness. The man who meets them after landing is wearing cin-goggles to transform the IR light to something human eyes can see. Fabic takes them to a set of native ruins that have been converted to human quarters. On the way, he blasts an attacking carnivore out of the sky. Later, Fabic takes Nik to meet Orkhad, the local veep. Orkhad is a suequ weed smoker, which tends to make the user believe himself capable of any feat. Orkhad doesn't seem to have a high opinion of Leeds, but is willing to let Nik remain just to keep the boy peaceful. During the conversation, Orkhad says several things that contradict the story told by Leeds. Vandy is very upset with the whole situation and conflicted over his feelings toward Hacon, the fantasy hero. He tries the door and finds it locked. Later he tries the door once again and finds it unlocked. Nik holds him back to plan their actions and then leads the escape. They find one pair of cin-goggles and a pair

This is the story of a young man severly scarred on his face who thinks he would be willing to do anything to be noticed as a person. He is offered a new face if he helps kidnap a young boy. After he meets and gets to know the child he finds that he values his humanity too much to harm the boy and helps the boy escape into an alien world even though it means becoming a monster in the eyes of the world again.