As he opened the door, he heard a loud high trilling note as an Aalonna tried to break through the barriers. She glared widely around the station with her gleaming faceted eyes, waving her thin legs and arms. Her interpreter was crying out loud, 'Let her through, let her through. Sir, please! She needs to speak to you."

Commander Joleson gladly accepts a commanding position for the World Federation's first starship, Star Gazer. But something doesn't feel right. Even though representatives from the World Federation will be on board and supposedly working together, Joleson can't shake his paranoia. He suspects that the Aalonna, the six-foot tall, antlike beings hide a sinister past. But what is that past?

As they make their journey, Yantrala, a storyteller from the planet Latrala, describes a world of music and love destroyed by evil. But where are the residents of this world now? Joleson fears that someone or something is trying to keep Star Gazer in the dark. But are they helping or hindering Star Gazer? And just how far will the Aalonna people go to complete their destiny?