Science, especially chemistry, is the only thing that five-year-old Lark Arias cares about. It is such an all-consuming passion that psychologists from Drell, the planet in the far distant future where he lives, would call him a "natural obsessor." As a consequence, he doesn't care about people. He hates them. He despises even his own parents. Lark has no friends and this absolute solitude has never bothered him. Then one day, he bargains...