". . . what would happen if humanity reached the stars to only learn the price of purchase too high?" - Paris "The stars, at any price, would be a bargain." - Chakramire For 70 million years, humans have marched across the cosmos. With settlements on several moons and planets, they have evolved to overcome the dangerous frontiers of space, but at a cost. For those adapted to living in outer space, it is the only home they have ever known. A growing crisis on Earth, unfortunately, has rendered the outermost settlements all but unlivable. An emissary and her cybernetic bard have journeyed half a lifetime across the solar system to remind the Earth's people of their own obligations. To redeem the homeworld in the eyes of the colonies, however, will take more than mending generations of broken promises. The pair slowly uncovers that what began as a struggle against an intolerable burden has become a fight against regression, or at worst, extinction . . . for Earth's people face a greater peril at the hands of their own machinations.