Agana Taitano Hofstadter—a brilliant but troubled cryptanalyst from the Island of Saipan—is finally on her way back home after a harrowing ordeal on the dark and inhospitable planet of the Enneans, an alien species steeped in mystery. Her crewmates include a cybernetically enhanced human struggling with severe injuries sustained on Ennea, a cadre of eclectic dolphin engineers, and an artificial intelligence with a proclivity for holographic antics. Taitano and her colleagues are ordered to take an unexpected detour to the Hel Nebula to investigate anomalous gamma-ray emissions. As Taitano and this intrepid crew of scientist-explorers strive to set aside their differences, they uncover a puzzle that will test their physical and psychological limits and change their understanding of the origins of life in the cosmos—a puzzle they must solve before it destroys them all.
