author : Jane Emerson

It has been six centuries since the alien Curosa imparted the wisdom of their dying race to Adrian Sawyer, gifting him and his millions of disciples with three massive intergalactic city-ships to spread the Curosa Truth across the starways. But over time these ships strayed from their original missionary purpose, and the two largest, City of Diamond and City of Opal, became embroiled in a vicious struggle for political dominance.

Now Adrian Mercati, a charismatic but inexperienced young man, has been chosen by the dying Protector of Diamond as his successor. To strengthen Adrian’s position, the Protector, shortly before his death, told his protégé the suspected location of a mysterious alien artifact know only as the Sawyer Crown—possession of which could give both Adrian and the Diamond indisputable superiority over the Opal. Yet even if Adrian commits all of his resources to the search for the Crown, his chances of success are slim. And when Opal spies aboard the Diamond also gain this information, they, too, begin a desperate hunt for the Crown.

Yet what neither side can foresee is that finding the Crown could as easily prove the ruin of all three ships as their salvation…