When a Federation world suffers a planetwide blackout, it’s the S.C.E. to the rescue. While Commander Gomez and her crack team of engineers work to help keep the planet from falling into chaos, the ship’s linguist, Bart Faulwell, is given a special assignment: the blackout was caused by an Asarion linguist named Jewlan, who triggered what appears to be a weapon in an archaeological dig.

The Asarion people have a unique biology that causes random shifts from male to female. Faulwell’s friendship with Jewlan, and her crush on him, is a minor diversion at first, especially given the struggles Faulwell is having with his own relationship. But when Jewlan becomes Joln, Faulwell finds himself with more than one difficult decision—especially when the power outage worsens and threatens to destroy not only Asario, but the da Vinci as well!

COMING IN DECEMBER 2005

FROM POCKET BOOKS!