This story is all about the question of how and why an alien species might divide a planet so that one half remained in its natural state while the other half was terraformed. With help from scientists and her own imagination Czerneda pulls together threads of cryogenic colony ships, strange worlds, artificial intelligence, and alien minds so different from ours that every interaction is a puzzle. Even the human civilization of New Earth, the first and only known settlement of Original Earth, has some unexpected aspects. The characters and plot tend to take a backseat to the unique and strange possibilities of the universe in this speculative sci-fi story.