A Million Years From Now, The Galaxy Is Divided Between The Amalgam, A Vast, Cooperative Meta-civilization, And The Aloof, The Silent Occupiers Of The Galactic Core. The Aloof Have Long Rejected All Attempts By The Amalgam To Enter Their Territory, But They Permit Travellers Intrepid Enough To Take A Perilous Ride As Unencrypted Data In Their Communications Network, Providing A Short-cut Across The Galaxy's Central Bulge. Rakesh Has Waited All His Life For Adventure To Come Calling. When He Meets A Traveller Who Claims She Was Woken By The Aloof In Mid-journey And Shown A Meteor Full Of Traces Of Dna, He Accepts Her Challenge To Hunt Down The Uncharted World From Which The Meteor Came, Deep In The Aloof's Territory.-- Cover. Greg Egan.