Newlyweds Tori Bertoletti and Raze Salen--the heart and soul of the Human spacefaring liveship the Aero--are separated. Ambassador Raze continues to negotiate formal alliances while Tori and the best scientific minds in the galaxy try to figure out how to stop the organic menace swallowing the universe in darkness. Meanwhile, civil war threatens to erupt between Earthers and Spacers and the leader of the Napoleonic Sinshe has defected. But can he convince his people...including his own sons leading the armada against all other worlds and cultures...that they've been indoctrinated and enslaved to lies against their will?