But not all is as it seems on Prokaryon. Sudden, fortuitous rainstorms quench forest fires and then rapidly dissipate. The entire planet's ecosystem is highly structured -- too structured to have been formed by the randomness of nature. But decades of research have turned up no real evidence of any "hidden masters" of Prokaryon.

When Proteus Unlimited, a greedy corporation, reveals its plans to terraform Prokaryon, making it habitable by normal humans and thereby netting huge profits, the research for native intelligent life becomes a frantic race against time. Lost in this shuffle of bureaucracy and greed is this simple colony of orphans, which will be wiped out when the entire surface of the planet is boiled off.

Will the hidden masters surface in time to save their planet?