The 20th anniversary edition of groundbreaking space opera that launched Gear’s sci-fi career

First contact between two disparate space colonies—one run by genetically-altered humans, the other by mysterious native warriors—has the power to destroy them both.
In the future, most of the the human race lives on space stations controlled by the The Directorate—genetically-altered humans permanently linked to the massive computer network containing all information about the planets and space stations claimed by humankind. For centuries, the Directorate has ruled over countless star systems, its authority absolute and unquestioned. But now rebellion stirs across the far-flung commercial empire.
The Directorate discovers a planet out beyond its farthest reaches, a place known only as World, occupied by the descendants of crash-landed humans. The World’s inhabitants have survived by becoming a race of warriors—a race led by its Prophets, who can see the many possible pathways of the future. They have already foreseen the coming of the Directorate’s Patrol ship Bullet and have prepared their warriors for first contact. And even one wrong choice could destroy both World and empire . . .