Contact with an alien race, the Gliese, has been made, but communication is impossible. There is trade, but on seemingly inexplicable terms; anti-gravity technology was traded for a bicycle tyre.
This second in the commercial and inventive epic space opera trilogy promises to appeal to fans of Frank Herbert. Trade has been established with the mysterious Gliese alien race, but not communication, with the Gliese inexplicably happy to trade over anti-gravity technology for a bicycle tyre. A conceptual artist and an assassin attempt to understand the Gliese.