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Crisis in the 'Net

Admiral Loren Cantrell is already caught on a power-play tightrope between bigoted Spacers and stubborn planetary Reconstructionists. Now a new crisis arises: something is threatening the Communications Network that links the star colonies. It is a mystery Cantrell must solve.

Her only clue leads to HuteNamid, a Recon World of hostile Native Americans. Here a conspiracy is run by Cantrell's ex-lover, a man believed dead; a new science has been invented by a disgraced practical joker who once crashed a galactic database; and a psychotic rebel warrior has found the way to touch a god.

The one person who can help Cantrell is Stephen Ridenour, a neurotic boy genius who risks death and madness... for the key to saving the 'Net lies in the deeper shadows of Stephen's lost past--and hidden soul.

A Secret Binds the Colonists of HuteNamid, a secret for which they will risk everything--even genocide. Admiral Loren Cantrell, insystem to investigate disruptions in the vital interstellar data'Net, has only one clue: the code phrase Dena Cocheta. And only one source of information: Stephen Ridenour, the tormented, neurotic, and increasingly hostile young genius assigned to solve HuteNamid's mysteries.

The answers Cantrell seeks lie buried in Stephen's own tragic past. Is there a link between the madness that destroyed his homeworld and the growing insanity the grips HuteNamid? Probing Stephen's mind could destroy him and the colonists--perhaps all humankind. But one young man's life and the existence of one colony weigh very little against a threat to the 'Net itself--and the power that command Cantrell.

Disaster in the 'Net

The star-spanning 'Net is crashing--collapsing under its own unwieldy weight, its vital database losing bits and connections at an alarming rate. The politicians and technocrats that depend on it are desperate.

Desperate enough to come looking for the boy they dispatched on a mission larger than they knew, and for the prankster whose exploits are notorious among programmers on the 'Net.

Stephen Ridenour--tormented boy genius and survivor of HuteNamid's secrets--has found a refuge from the civilization whose bigotry almost destroyed him.

Wesley Smith--genius, seducer, joker, and certifiable loose cannon--has captured the ultimate prey and isn't about to set it loose.

And no one realizes what can be done...is already a dead issue.

"Fancher has the potential to become one of the field's greats."--C.J.Cherryh