Humans have made First Contact with a race of aliens called the ky'iin. Unfortunately, their body language causes such fear and aggression in humans that all attempts at communication between the species have ended with the humans attacking. Now, in response to humanity's aggression, the ky'iin are invading the solar system. The only way to avert war between the species is to find someone who can't instinctively read body language, but who also has enough linguistic talent to try to decipher ky'iin language. Only one person can be found who fits the bill: Suza McRae, a young autistic woman and aspiring translator from Mars.
Transpecial contains examples of:
- Alien Invasion: The ky'iin only want to destroy enough infrastructure to prevent humans from attacking them again, but the humans have no way of knowing what their intentions are.
- Aliens Steal Cable: The ky'iin have tried this, but they haven't been able to get close enough to Earth to see broadcasts clearly. They've only been able to pick up on weak audio broadcasts, and because they don't realize that humans can communicate through sound only, they haven't tried to decipher them.
- Artificial Meat: The ky'iin are obligate carnivores who eat vat-grown meat during their space voyages.
- Better with Non-Human Company: Suza feels more comfortable with the ky'iin than she ever has with humans because they ky'iin treat her like an adult instead of a second-class citizen.
- Bizarre Alien Sexes:
- The ky'iin have males and females as well as ly'iin, a third sex that uses ly/lin/lik pronouns. Ly'iin aren't directly involved in reproduction - instead, their purpose is to serve as teachers. Females lay eggs, and the males do most of the childrearing, so females are larger and more aggressive, while males have a nest-building impulse.
- The glen are Starfish Aliens who undergo a complete metamorphosis twice during their adult lives, which includes changing genders.
- Centrifugal Gravity: Although the technology for true Artificial Gravity exists, centrifugal gravity is cheaper, so many space stations consist of spinning habitat rings. General Anthony dislikes the spin because looking out the viewports makes him queasy.
- Colonized Solar System: Humans have colonized the moon, also known as Luna, as well as Mars. Mars used to be a colony of Earth before fighting a twenty-year war of independence, which lasted for most of Suza's childhood. Now it's an independent republic.
- Cyborg: Some people have artificial nervous systems supplementing their biological ones to improve their reaction time. They can be used to program people for violence, so people who have them aren't allowed on Mars unless they get them removed.
- Disability Immunity: Because Suza had to consciously learn how to read body language, she doesn't instinctively react to the ky'iin the way neurotypicals do.
- Domed Hometown: Martian cities are enclosed by domes, including Suza's hometown, Central.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: Downplayed. The ky'iin blow up Phobos to destroy its scientific outpost.
- Fantastic Slurs: There's still a lot of hatred between Martians and Earthers, who call each other Marsies and Earthworms.
- Gaia's Lament: The tyrar, a race of aliens who resemble a cross between cats and monkeys, used to have so little technology that when the ky'iin first discovered them, they didn't realize they were sentient. When they did manage to establish communication, the ky'iin colonized and industrialized the planet and introduced spaceflight to the tyrar. What they don't realize is that the tyrar had lived In Harmony with Nature for thousands of years and are furious at the destruction of their way of life. Repairing the damage to their environment will take centuries.
- Handshake Refusal: Suza extends her hand to some of the ky'iin. Haniyar is confused by the gesture and wonders if the purpose is to demonstrate an open hand. After a moment, Suza lowers her hand.
- Hates Being Alone: Taken to an extreme by the tyrar. They are highly social animals and need to be surrounded by several of their kind to be happy. A tyrar who is completely alone sickens and eventually dies.
- Language of Truth: Downplayed. It's possible for a good actor to lie in the ky'iin languages, but it's much harder than it is in any human language because ky'iin communication is so dependent on body language.
- My Beloved Smother: Suza is twenty-two, but her mother wants her to be dependent on her forever and stymies all her efforts to gain more freedom. She can't move out because Martians aren't considered legal adults without an Independent Living Certificate, which Suza doesn't have. When she's drafted to work as a translator, she sees it as her ticket out.
- Narrative Profanity Filter: Warren uses "a word he hoped Iterk didn't know."
- New-Age Retro Hippie: The Olympus Spiritual Center is home to a commune of New Agers who were persecuted for their beliefs by the theocratic government of Earth. Mars isn't currently open to immigration, but the hippies were granted refugee status. They set up a base camp on Olympus Mons, a site they selected because they worship the gods who live on Earth's Mount Olympus. They practice yoga and advocate against terraforming because they think Mars as it is is sacred. Nearly everyone else on Mars is an atheist, so the hippies are thought of as nutjobs.
- Organic Technology: The glen's starship was grown, not built, and resembles a giant spiky coral.
- Panspermia: Ten planets have been found with biospheres, four with intelligent life. All known lifeforms use similar amino acids. The ky'iin believe that they're descended from a panspermia.
- Sapient Cetaceans: Dolphins and orcas have human-level intelligence and in fact realized humans were sapient long before humans realized dolphins were. The Delphic language is largely inaudible to humans, but many dolphins speak a pidgin that's designed to be easy for humans to understand. Some dolphins even work among humans, such as Iterk, pilot of the spaceship Challenger. Whales, however, aren't fully sapient and are essentially the dolphins' pets.
- The Scrooge: Suza's mother hoards money and takes anything Suza manages to earn. If she ever buys anything for herself, her mother screams at her about all the food that money could have bought.
- Security Blanket: When Suza leaves her childhood home, the only thing she takes with her is a stuffed koala. She holds it to comfort herself, even though she knows it makes her look childish. Unfortunately, it gets left behind on Mars when Suza is taken by the ky'iin.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Jun, one of the hippies, comes from the moon, where the inhabitants of some cities don't wear clothes. She lives on Mars now, but she refuses to make any concessions to the local social norms beyond wearing a skirt. There's no weather on Mars, so she doesn't see the point of covering up.
- Starfish Language: The ky'iin language relies on their movements as well as sounds, making their voice recordings impossible to decipher by themselves. It's hoped that if Suza can decipher their language, she can help develop a pidgin that consists entirely of sound so all humans can communicate with the ky'iin without wanting to attack them.
- We Come in Peace — Shoot to Kill: The book opens with the human ship Valley Forge encountering a ky'iin ship for the first time. The ky'iin send a video message to the Valley Forge, but when Captain Simms sees the ky'iin in the video move, he cries out in horror and gives the order to open fire.
