In the desert, Daiya had to face her ordeal. Alone. If successful, she could join the Net of her village. If she failed, she would join the Merged Ones and die. But the mountains spoke to her in their jeweled tongue, the discovery of a starship and an alien presence told her of worlds beyond worlds -- leaving her unfit for her own life, unable to know another, and in possession of a dread secret her people needed as much as they shunned.