Quant-ne had reached his limits attempting to meet his father's standards for his upcoming Ulphing. Although this challenge no longer demonstrated a youth's skill as an adult, he felt inadequate and ill-prepared. How could he adequately demonstrate he had mastered the skill of the culnesh and merge his mind with others and nature itself? Never would he achieve the transition from mere student to a Shann'ka Adept. Then his father explained the reason for their world's transition from an agrarian to an industrial space-faring culture. Sixty years ago, his great uncle, the emperor, discovered the Ancients' library along with a cache of their technological marvels. Although now aware of this reality, he remained unaware of how virulently some opposed these changes and the extent to which they would disrupt his Ulphing. Would this challenge be Quant-ne's moment of triumph or the end of life as he knew it?