When an exploration ship from Freehold discovered a planet with intelligentlifeformsthe first which humans had ever encounteredit should havebeen the most important event in history. And it might befor all thewrong reasons. Corporations on Freehold were eager to sellhigh-tech toys to the Ithkuil, as the inhabitants called themselves, which hadthe potential to disrupt their society. Then there was the U.N., whichcontrolled the planet Earth. Earth and Freehold were not on good terms, to putit mildly, and the U.N. immediately sent its own ship to make contact with theIthkuil. If the authoritarians from Earth started throwing their weight around,Freehold would have to push back, causing anything from a diplomatic incident tooutright war. And then another ship arrived, full of idealistic do-goodersdetermined to keep the Ithkuil in their unspoiled state of nature . . . The whole thing was turning into a cross between a Marx Brothers farce and aKafkaesque nightmare, with a potential for Greek tragedy. Contact with a moreadvance civilization might pose a danger to the Ithkuil, but it definitely wasbecoming more dangerous to the human factions, and the situation was a powderkeg just waiting for a spark to cause a very deadly explosion. . . .