The revolution that won Coyote's independence from Earth's government is twenty years in the past. Large areas of the planet remain unexplored. Coyote's aging computers, aircraft, and medical equipment are badly in need of replacement. And the colony's survival is in question.Hope arrives in the form of the European Alliance starship Columbus, delivering a starbridge - an invention that allows almost instantaneous travel between Earth and Coyote. With Earth in ruins, humankind needs a new home - and Coyote is its last, best refuge. But this technology may prove to be more of a detriment than a boon. Now the colony's hard-won independence depends on the descendants of Coyote's original settlers - and those who have their own agendas for its future.Former freedom fighter Carlos Montero, now in his fifties and burdened with the responsibilities of leadership. Manuel Castro, the savant and former lieutenant governor of New Florida, now a hermit who may hold the key to the survival of those whose company he has renounced. Jonas Whittaker, the genius inventor haunted by the loss of the wife and daughter he sacrificed to save his own life. And Morgan Goldstein, an entrepreneur seeking to exploit Coyote's natural resources - even if it means ruining the planet itself.As Coyote's future hangs in the balance, a larger question looms: Can the human race settle a new world without bringing forward the problems of the world it left behind? Read Less