The Second Law of Robotics states that a robot must obey the orders given it by human beings, except where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

Coren Lanra is the head of security for DyNan Manual Industries. A former Special Services agent, he's never cared for bureaucracy, piracy, or deception. And he hates mysteries.

Lanra's troubles begin with the death of Nyom Looms, daughter of DyNam president Rega Looms, during an ill-fated mission to smuggle illegal immigrants from Earth to the colony Nova Levis - all were apparently murdered, but why? The only clue might be contained within the positronic brain of a robot that had accompanied the victims, but it has been deactivated, and Lanra is denied access to its memories.

To make matters even worse, he is soon confronted with a puzzling complication: a possible connection between the murders and twenty babies who were snatched from an orphanage over two decades ago.

With the help of roboticist Derec Avery and Auroran ambassador Ariel Burgess - whom the security chief had aided in exposing an anti-robot conspiricy on arth a year before - Lanra searches for answers to a twenty-five-year -old mystery... and for the identity of a killer, before more lives are lost.