Beyond the antimatter barrier known as the Reef, the far-flung human colonies were dying out. Trade was decreasing, plagues ran rampant, societies had degenerated into mobs, and few ships were safe from raiders.
Studying the decline of the transReef colonies and their chances for survival, computer prodigy Bass Cannon found that hope lay in only one direction: toward an alien world called Phastillan. The planet was home to a colony of psatla - beings who communicated with pheromones, recalled their ancestors' memories, and could manipulate the genes of any species. Humans despised psatla, and few would work for them - but Bass was curious. When the psatla offered him a job as their computer expert, he accepted.
Bass set out to learn Phastillan's importance to humanity - but he was not prepared for the psatla's violent effects on human biochemistry. Nor did he realize that his experience would make him a radical, a visionary . . . and the savior of his species.