Across the galaxy, tensions are rising between the authoritarian Tandesko Triune and the free-marketeers of the Auricle Alliance. Nevertheless, scientists of both sides have come together in Project Starmuse, to observe the giant star Betelgeuse as it goes supernova. At the space station imbedded inside the roiling star, the team anxiously awaits the return of the one man essential to the success of the project. On Kantano's World, astronomer Willard Ruskin must discover why someone has infected him with nano-agents - artificially intelligent, microscopic computers, which alter his appearance, his memory, his very DNA. Drawn into a conflict from which not even death will free him, Ruskin must find a way to reach Betelgeuse before his enemies sabotage Starmuse...and humankind's future among the stars. A harrowing journey from inside the human cell - to the mind of a dying star.