From sixty-eight light years away they came, speaking of friendship in their strange language of pulsating light. To the humans, still emerging from a catastrophic worldwide economic collapse, the Light Masters seemed as saviors, gods from beyond the stars, whose advanced technology would rescue humanity from poverty. Thus began the first cooperative venture between human beings and aliens from another world. The best of the 350 students on the Advanced Training and Work Station in Earth orbit would soon be leaving for assignments working the the aliens. But few of the young humans had ever seen a Light Master face to face. And none of them knew the nature of the Joint Project. Or the secret concealed aboard the aliens' starships.