What if a woman as strong and as complex as Eva Pern began her life as a robot repair assistant, one threatened by a powerful peacekeeping force that wants to take all that she has from her? The discovery ship, Creative Fire, is on its way home from a multi-generational journey. But home is nothing like the crew expected. They have been gone for generations, and the system they return to is now home to technologies and riches beyond their wildest dreams. But, they are immediately oppressed and relegated to the lowest status imaginable, barely able to interact with the technologies and people of the star station where they dock, the Diamond Deep. Ruby Martin and her partner, Joel North, must find a way to learn what they need to know and become more than they have ever been--if they are to find a way to save their people.