Irene (nee Waskiewicz), Trans-Temporal agent on hazardous diplomatic duty on a particularly unpleasant Islamic colony planet, has long since begun to question her male superior's decisions. When it falls to her to become the protector of Zubeydeh, overprotected waif from a noble family, she must choose whether the two of them, the veiled innocent and the rebel agent, should flee together to Earth...a feat fraught with risk of death for both.