Events were not moving as the Amnion had intended. Once again humans had been false in their dealing with the aliens. Morn and Davies Hyland, Angus Thermopyle, Nick Succorso and his crew had escaped Thanatos Minor on board Trumpet seconds before the bootleg shipyard was destroyed. Their immediate capture was imperative.

By studying Morn's force-grown son Davies the Amnion would finally be able to replicate themselves in human form. The whole of human space could then be seeded with hosts of Amnion - the overthrow of Earth-bred life accomplished at a stroke.

Back at UMCPHQ a bitter power struggle was developing that might prove to be an even greater threat to humankind. For the UMC Police the interception of Trumpet was vital: if the secrets it contained were spread abroad, the consequences could be disastrous.

For the fleeing Trumpet's exhausted crew the only hope lay in an illegal lab in the distant binary solar system of Valdor Industrial. It would be a journey of unpredicatable danger - from which not all would return.