Hartwells YearsBest SF published by HarperPrism in paperback in 1996. quotThe rat didnt die.quot Andra walked around the holostage. Before her projected??down from thegeodesic dome shone the planets image: Iota Pavonis Three the??first new world approved forsettlement in over four centuries. As Andra walked??around the swirl of a mysterious continentpeered out through a swathe of cloud. She stopped leaning forward on her elbows to watch. Whatname of its own??would the Free Fold Federation ultimately bestow on IP3 Andra wondered sucha??lovely terrifying world. quotNot the last time the rat didnt.quot The eyespeaker was perched on her shoulder. It belonged to Skyhook the sentient shuttle craft that would soon carry Andra??from the studystation down to land on the new world. A reasonable arrangement: The shuttle craft would carry the human xenobiologist through space for her field work thenshe would carry his eye on the planet surface as she did inside the station. quotThe rat onlydied down there the first eight times.quot quotUntil we got its skin right.quot The quotskinquot was a suit of nanoplast containing??billions ofmicroscopic computers designed to filter out all the local toxins--arsenic lanthanidesbizarre pseudoalkaloids. All were found in local??flora and fauna inhaling them would