The human and atevi inhabitants of Alpha Station, orbiting the world of the atevi, have picked up a signal from an alien kyo ship telling them that the ship is inbound toward Alpha. Five thousand of the inhabitants of Alpha are human refugees from the now derelict Reunion Station. They have seen this scenario before, when a single kyo ship swooped into the Reunion system and, without a word, melted a major section of Reunion Station with a single pass. These refugees, who were rescued through the combined efforts of an allied group of humans and atevi and brought to safety at Alpha, are now desperate with fear. Bren Cameron—brilliant human emissary of Tabini-aiji, the powerful atevi political leader on the mainland below, and also the appointee of the human president of the island nation of Mospheira—is the obvious choice of representative to be sent up to deal with both the panicked refugees and the incoming alien ship. As a member of the spacefaring delegation who rescued the refugees, Bren has talked to kyo before—and even won their trust by saving one of their kind from a Reunioner prison. Because of his remarkable diplomatic and linguistic abilities, Bren managed to communicate with that grateful kyo individual on a limited basis, and he has evidence that that same kyo is on the ship heading to defenseless Alpha Station. But no one can predict what an alien race might do, or what their motivations could be. And Bren Cameron, the only human ever to be accepted into atevi society, is now the one individual with a hope of successfully interacting with the crew of the incoming ship. But Bren knows it will take putting himself in the hands of the kyo. Can Bren count on the gratitude of one individual alien to save his life and the lives of thousands on Alpha Station?


阿爾法太空站的人類及奧塔維居民接收到基奧外星太空船上傳來的信號，得知這艘太空船將駛入阿爾法。阿爾法有五千名居民是來自聯合太空站的難民，這個太空站廢棄已久。他們以前也遇過相同的情況，曾有一艘基奧太空船衝進聯合太空系統，無聲無息地撞毀了聯合太空站一個主要的區域。這些難民被人類與奧維塔人合力救出，安置在阿爾法太空站，心中相當恐懼。布倫．卡梅倫是傑出的人類特使，受雇於統治者塔比尼－艾吉。艾吉是奧塔強大的政治領袖，同時被任命為莫斯費拉島國的人類總統，對他來說，布倫．卡梅倫顯然是協助這些驚恐的難民和解決外星太空船事件的最佳人選。布倫身為救援難民航空的代表成員，他曾與基奧人交涉過，甚至從聯合太空站監獄救出外星人而贏得他們的信任。布倫運用他出眾的外交和語言能力，試圖在有限範圍內與曾被他救過、對他心懷感激的基奧人溝通，布倫也握有證據，知道這位基奧人正在太空船上，駛向毫無防禦能力的阿爾法太空站。然而，沒有人能夠預測外星人的行動與動機。而布倫．卡梅倫是唯一受奧塔維居民接納的人類，也是唯一有可能與基奧太空船上的船員成功溝通的人。但布倫知道此一任務意味著將自己的生死交到基奧人手上。布倫是否能仰仗之前他救過的那位外星人對他的感激之心，讓自己與阿爾法太空站上千人都能倖免於這次的危難呢？