None of them wanted to leave Earth. It might have been nightmarish, but it was all they knew. Gary wanted to concentrate on his exams, in hopes of leaving the CityBlock and its bullies far behind. Kailee wanted to become an actress. Darrin merely wanted to live. But when the three teenagers win a competition, they find themselves taking the trip of a lifetime, a voyage to a colony world where they can see how the colonists live. Meridian is very different from the dark and dismal cityblocks, a place where they can make a new beginning. But it also houses dangers, dangers that their education on Earth didn't even begin to prepare them to face, dangers governed by the cold equations of survival. And when disaster strikes, they find themselves forced to fight for their lives – or die, alone and unloved, thousands of light years from home.