After several failures to establish new human colonies in near-Space, another team tackles the challenge far out in the asteroid belt surrounding our Solar System. Radical new developments in genetics and biological systems are told through the eyes of Steven Porter, fifteen years old and sixteenth-born on Earth IX. Leadership of the colony deals with boredom and hunger for power, creating an environment fraught with risk. The pressure on firstborn John Astor to defend his desires, drive him to go to any length to protect access to his appetites. The colony's latest birth is Steven Porter who may be John's solution.
