College students, human and nonhuman, raised together on the same planet, search for the origins of civilization in the Galaxy and find old magic and a vast, implacable conspiracy. Can they forge bonds of friendship and understanding among themselves strong enough to stand against greed, lust for power, and absolute domination of a hundred planets? If not, then why does the enemy fear them?

Older and wiser, the humans and nonhumans of Molt Brother now suffer the consequences of their actions. They have stirred the karma of their lifetimes lived billions of years ago - when they were responsible for the destruction of a Galactic Civilization, the First Lifewave. Now they must seize the object of power that corrupted them the first time - to keep it from the hands of an implacable enemy. Can they resist its lure and save the Second Lifewave?