Publisher's Synopsis
In the far future, humanity has long ago cast itself out from Earth to populate the terraformed planets of Mars and Venus, and other places throughout the solar system-or Soland, as it has come to be called. Studious and carefree Lora Callisto lives an idyllic life on her home planet, Venus. But that changes when a summons drags her to Earth to meet with XC, the powerful automation system keeping all of Soland running with clockwork precision through the labor of billions of automatons, known as auts. When XC's vast mind computes that Lora is a perfect candidate to help repel a stealth invasion by the Centaurians-a faction that split from Soland centuries earlier to establish its own civilization in Soland's nearest star system, Beta Centauri-Lora can only conclude that the machine has either acquired a wry sense of humor or is seriously flawed. What would a seventeen-year-old girl living an academic life in a quiet Venusian coastal town possibly know about fighting in the Soland militia? Nevertheless, finding herself strangely drawn to the idea, she joins the conflict. That decision leads Lora to places she never dreamed she would go, and brings about surprising revelations of what she's capable of, who she really is, and what role she will play in the future of Soland.
