Archaeologist Richard Pinn returns to the ruins of an alien city to find out why its vanished race had abandoned him and his female Me'Aukin counterpart. For three hundred years, he and Jamie Brinwall had been little more than artifacts themselves. Humans found them as embryos kept barely alive in cryogenic tanks, but for what reason? Neither Rick, nor his corporate sponsors who intend on re-colonizing the world, are prepared for the truth that has waited for him with an undying vengeance.