It is eventually revealed that the immediate purpose of Weston's and Devine's journey to Malacandra is to mine Malacandra's abundant gold. This is the only motive of the mercenary Devine, but Weston's plan is to open a new age of space colonization to ensure the eternal survival of the human race, an idea borrowed from Stapledon's Last and First Men. The seeming humanitarianism of Weston's scheme is corrupted by his contemptuous and colonialist attitude towards all other forms of life, including the humane and intelligent Malacandrans.