Strange things were happening on the icy planet called Petaybee. Unauthorized genetically engineered species had been spotted. Geologic survey teams sent to locate newly detected mineral deposits were either coming up empty - or disappearing altogether. And the locals weren't talking - especially not to the company bent on exploiting the planet. Disabled combat veteran Yanaba Maddock seemed to the company to be the ideal spy: the frailty that made her no further use to the military would be a perfect blind to allow her to get close to the Petaybean natives. But miraculously, with her relocation to the arctic planet came a return of Yana's health and strength. And the more she got to know they people of Petaybee, the more determined she became to protect her new home. For something strange and wonderful truly was happening on Petaybee. Something worth fighting for, or even dying for - but, especially, something worthy living for...

Yanaba Maddock's short-lived career as a company spy had ended the moment the planet Petaybee and its people had adopted her as one of their own. Now she was dedicated to keeping Intergal from exploiting and wounding—or even killing—the world she had come to love. For Intergal persisted in denying that Petaybee was sentient, and nothing would stop it from stripping the ore-rich planet—sentient or not. Only solid evidence would convince the company to leave the planet alone, and for all its sentience, Petaybee's communications were highly subjective; indeed, some outsiders seemed entirely immune to its voice. So Yana and her friends would have to find some other way to prove that the planet was worth more to the company alive than dead...

Petaybee was growing up. Day by day, the sentient planet—like any child—was learning to recognize and understand the meaning of outside stimuli, to respond to those stimuli, to communicate its own needs and desires...even to use human speech. But few outsiders truly cared for the feelings and intelligence of what they perceived to be a giant hunk of rock—or a mere oddity to be gawked at. Some came to worship the newly awakened soul. Some came by invitation, but without comprehension, to harvest the almost magically curative native plants. Big game hunters came chasing rumors of fantastical creatures that simply gave themselves up for the killing. And tourists came in droves, many of them searching for long-lost relatives among those whom Intergal had relocated to Petaybee during its colonization phase. The Petaybeans had their hands full trying to protect their beloved planet from the sudden influx of visitors. Then some of Petaybee's staunchest champions—Yanaba Maddock, Marmion de Revers Algemeine, Bunny Rourke, and Diego Metaxos—were kidnapped. The perpetrators wanted Petaybee for its incredible mineral wealth. Their other attempts at plundering the planet had all failed, and now they were determined to force the Petaybeans to make a the planet for the people. They simply didn't understand that such a bargain was impossible. For the only one who could speak for Petaybee was Petaybee itself—and no one knew what a living planet could do once it found its voice... From the Hardcover edition.