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The Project - the terraforming of Venus - was begun centuries ago. And generations more will come and go before the planet's surface has been rendered fully habitable and its human settlers, the Cytherians, can finally leave their protective domes. There are those, however, whose patience has grown dangerously thin - malcontents unwilling to resign themselves to never enjoying the fruits of freedom promised to their descendents.
Devastation and horror recently paralyzed this world in transition, as two religious cult leaders brought a plague of civil war to Venus, and were ultimately destroyed by their own treachery and despair. Out of the chaos and conflict came Mahala Liangharad - a true child of Venus conceived from the rebels' genetic material and artfully gestated after their deaths. Some believe Mahala should never have been born; others see her as the glorious light that arose out of a dark time. Mahala herself is conflicted, as she struggles to come to terms with her painful birthright and her immutable future: a lifetime of unquestioning service to the Project.
