A science fiction novel that begins as a murder mystery and is taken over by an interstellar treasure hunt. What could draw poet, explorer, loner and paranoid Mykol Ranglen away from the relative peace of his own stellar habitat? He has no choice in the matter as one by one acquaintances are murdered or disappear altogether. Propelled by ever changing and deepening mysteries Mykol embarks to uncover secrets which could make people rich beyond their wildest dreams...or tear apart human civilization. The escalating quest takes him through worlds of many dangerous extremes, leading him to confront the deadly alien

In this prequel to The Man Who Loved Alien Landscapes we learn the story that Mykol Ranglen has kept buried in his past--a mystery of ancient galactic secrets, an adventure on colonized alien worlds, a romance in distant star systems, and a dark and sinister planetary noir that disturbs all he's known about his universe. He must decide just how far he'll go to keep the planet of his dreams and the future he desires, but what he learns about his world, and what he has to do to save it--and to save himself--will haunt him forever.