Publisher's Synopsis
Decades before, the exploration starship Alejandro Castillo disappeared. A message from the ship, asking why it has not been contacted, gives Earth the answer to another old mystery: where did the library ship Capek go when it abandoned the colony on Trist? Earth is not inclined to spend the money to chase after Capek, but the other library ships report that the settlement founded by Capek is dying. When a relief mission is launched, the library ships insist that Deputy Ambassador Edward Goldstein join the crew. On NotTrist, it becomes evident why the library ships wanted Goldstein. Negotiating between the existing settlers and the new arrivals planning to set up an Earth colony is the easy part. More challenging is the question of how to deal with Capek itself, which has its own ideas about how to protect NotTrist and its people.
