A secret binds the colonists of HuteNamid, a secret for which they will risk everything, even genocide. Admiral Loren Cantrell, insystem to investigate diruptions in the vital interstellar data 'Net, has only one clue: the code phrase Dena Cocheta. And only one source of information: Stephen Ridenour, the tormented, neurotic, and incrasingly hostile young genius assigned to solve HuteNamid's mysteries.
The answers Cantrell seeks lie buried in Stephen's own tragic past. Is there a link between the madness that destroyed his homeworld and the growing insanity that grips HuteNamid? Proping Stephen's mind could destroy him and the colonists -- perhaps all humankind. But one young man's life and the existence of one colony weigh very little against a threat to the 'Net itself -- and the powers that command Cantrell.