Thrive's next generation is put to the test. Dark-humored Frazzie, and stolid engineer Tiktok, win rank and cadet berths on Sass Collier's exciting mission to investigate the dead colony world of Aden. Eerie ruins nestle among Aden's dark rugged canyons, and a quarter million settlers are gone. What destroyed Aden colony? Meanwhile Frazzie's father, admiral Ben Acosta, migrates Rayas Colony. Cadets can transport the people...