Majat memory stretched back across the ages, to a time long before the Hives became known as Blue, Green, Red, and Gold, to accommodate human beings' limited perceptions. The majat had killed the first men to visit their world, but they learned a great deal from that initial contact - knowledge that was passed down as needed through each succeeding generation of Workers, Drones, Warriors, and Queens. In time a Pact was made...a trade agreement that put the sector of space known as Serpent's Reach off limits to all but a few men, and gave one Family sole control of commerce. That Family was the Kontrin, a clan whose genes had been altered to give its members centuries-long lives, and memories.