Only at tiny Concord Station, orbiting at the far edge of the galaxy, can humans from Earth and the strange Outsider worlds coexist, along with the powerful alien ondat, for all are bound to the fate of the fragile world below. Returning to life centuries after the threat of uncontrolled nanotechnology spawned the cataclysmic Gene Wars that devastated the cosmos, the evolving planet and its people are being shepherded toward a wondrous new future by Marak trin Tain, the immortal but not invulnerable son of a desert prince. But high above, intrigues, power plays, and dangerous alliances -- intensified by the unexpected arrival of a ship from Earth -- could crush the developing miracle and shatter the uneasy peace keeping the far-spanning empires of the universe at bay. And the ondat -- inscrutable, unpredictable, and merciless -- are watching ...