THE ADRAKI MENACE—They roved the spaceways, calling no world home, though they conquered and then destroyed many a promising planet. They were the Adraki, last survivors of an alien race. Some said they were bent on bringing the rest of the universe down with them. Others claimed they sought a treasure they had foolishly lost long ages ago. But now a man named Caragen, the most powerful individual in Network space, sought to ally with the Adraki, and he would use any means to achieve this goal—even if it meant sacrificing everyone on Siatha. For the Adraki seemed to have a sudden interest in this backward, non-tech planet, and Caragen was determined to find out why. His weapon of choice was Marrach, who though listed as Human had once been something else, and who had never failed in any mission. But Siatha, home to the legendary Healers, was a challenge greater than any Marrach had ever faced—the challenge of a power as alien and uncontrollable as the dreaded Adraki themselves....

To the wizards of Serii the Taormin Matrix was the ultimate tool of sorcery. Three Immortal wizards had reversed the flow of time itself to set the matrix in its proper place, reopening a time/space portal which the people of Network - the science-ruled universe which surrounded the wizards' world - had thought sealed for all eternity. In Network territory, only Jon Terry, creator of the matrices, held the key to this portal, and when he and his wife fled Network's tyranny for the sanctuary of Serii, the secret was lost with him. But the Terrys' concern for the children they'd been forced to leave behind would force the wizards to a dangerous course of action. They would send one of their number out into Network to learn the fate of the Terrys' children and to sky upon this civilization which might prove their deadliest enemy. Yet could one young wizard with a reputation for taking too many risks evade all the traps of a computer-controlled society - or would he and his entire world fall prey to forces which even magic could not defeat?

The first novel set in the alien-run Consortium tells of a man marked for death by the race he's betrayed. And what begins as a personal vendetta quickly escalates and involves many races and worlds in what should have remained one people's private war.

The ongoing war between the Network's Council Governor Caragen and Quin Hamley, Immortal of the closed world Network-3, continues in this new installment in the critically acclaimed Network-Consortium series.