A secret binds the colonists of HuteNamid, a secret for which they will risk everything, even genocide. Admiral Loren Cantrell, insystem to investigate diruptions in the vital interstellar data 'Net, has only one clue: the code phrase Dena Cocheta. And only one source of information: Stephen Ridenour, the tormented, neurotic, and incrasingly hostile young genius assigned to solve HuteNamid's mysteries. The answers Cantrell seeks lie buried in Stephen's own tragic past. Is there a link between the madness that destroyed his homeworld and the growing insanity that grips HuteNamid? Proping Stephen's mind could destroy him and the colonists—perhaps all humankind. But one young man's life and the existence of one colony weigh very little against a threat to the 'Net itself—and the powers that command Cantrell.