When an exploration ship from Freehold discovered a planet with intelligent lifeforms - the first which humans had ever encountered - it should have been the most important event in history. And it might be - for all the wrong reasons. Corporations on Freehold were eager to sell high-tech toys to the Ithkuil, as the inhabitants called themselves, which had the potential to disrupt their society. But, then, another ship arrived, full of idealistic do-gooders determined to keep the Ithkuil in their unspoiled state of nature. The whole thing was turning into a cross between a Marx Brothers farce and a Kafkaesque nightmare, with a potential for Greek tragedy. Contact with a more advance civilization might pose a danger to the Ithkuil, but it definitely was becoming more dangerous to the human factions, and the situation was a powder keg just waiting for a spark to cause a very deadly explosion.