The Way can be opened on many different worlds, some more Earth-like than others. The Hexamon, the ruling body of Axis City and the human race, has decreed that a few of those worlds be set aside, untouched, in case of future need.But the Hexamon has discovered that a huge group of colonists has secretly entered one of those protected worlds, Lamarckia. In some ways Lamarckia is very Earth-like - but its biology is extraordinary. What the immigrants have found on Lamarckia is beauty, hardship, and a return to the old ways of human history: war, famine, and ecological disaster.Young Olmy Ap Sennon, eager for a chance to prove himself, is chosen to embark on an unusual mission, to investigate this illegal immigration, to find out how humans have changed Lamarckia, and to find out more about the planet and its life. It's a grand mission, a perfect chance for Olmy to prove himself... to confront an older way of being human, to learn about things as basic as love and responsibility, and even failure. Even death. Read Less