Nadja Bikram traveled to the distant planet of Skiathos to work one problem, a puzzle that had vexed her for seven years. On reaching the savage desert world, she found the survey team she was to join in disarray and its leader missing. As a State Department officer, it was up to her to take command and sort things out, but she swiftly discovered the harsh and brutal landscape held a hidden danger so lethal and dreadful that it threatened them all. Nadja would need to use her every wit, risking her life and the lives of those around her, to discover its origin, but would she find the answer before it was too late?