The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

Over 3,000 light years away pushing the edge of space explored by humans, a ship detects a new Omega cloud. Then, while studying it, it changes course and heads for a star system.

Priscilla "Hutch" Hutchens, heroine of several of McDevitt's previous novels, has had a full career as a space pilot and is now administrator of the government agency in charge of space research. Like most people, she's only mildly concerned with the long-range threat of the omega clouds, masses of energy floating through the universe that detect and pulverize artificial structures (and the intelligent creatures that live in them). After all, the cloud headed for Earth is 900 years away.

This situation changes when a charmingly innocent young alien race is discovered just a few months before a cloud will obliterate it. Somehow they have to save this civilization preferably without breaking the equivalent of a Star Trek type prime directive. And so the race is on...