But powerful forces have seized control of her invention. A globe-spanning corporation has taken the credit for its discovery. And on a distant orbital platform, a secret hive of children, trained from birth to use the new technology, are using borrowed android bodies -- "proxies" -- to stage a stunning coup against an interstellar mission. But they need Carli to carry out their plan; they have sent a deadly cyborg to track her down.

An exciting and exotically imagined thriller melding a moving human story with the latest speculations in cloning, telepresence, and advanced biotechnology.