The twenty-third century saw interstellar flight finally within the grasp of Earth's population. But before humans could begin to search the stars for alien life, aliens came to them. Refugees from the Tau Ceti system, victims of a sun gone nova, the Phelan were remarkably similar to humans in attitude, behavior, and culture—or so they claimed...

Tory Bronson was the software engineer on the Starhopper, the interstellar probe that met the Phelan ship in space, When the Phelan petitioned Earth for land to settle upon, they chose her as their advocate—and she found herself offering her fellow humans world-changing alien technology in return for territory to house the refugees. Opposition to Phelan settlement was fierce, but Tory knew the objections had to be overcome—for she, as the Phelan advocate, was keeping a deadly secret from the world: the aliens were masters of deception, and far from helpless...