In her desperation to find Sabre and rescue him from Myon Two, Tassin boarded a smuggler ship that answered Tarl's call for help, and she and Tarl have been abducted. Her royal status means nothing to their kidnappers, but her airs and graces pay off on the auction block, and she and Tarl are purchased by a self-styled emperor. Tarl's skills as a cyber technician prove valuable to Emperor Endrovar, who owns cybers, but the emperor has no use for Tassin, and sells her.The Queen's new owner is a high king, ruler of fifteen solar systems, whose family has strange ties to Myon Two. She discovers an astounding revelation regarding Sabre's origins, but is unable to persuade Tarvin to let her go. When Sabre learns of Tassin's abduction, despair overwhelms him, for she has vanished into the endless reaches of space, untraceable... lost. He is certain he will never find her again, and, although Fairen helps him set out on his quest to seek her, he knows, deep in his heart, that it is hopeless. His machine-trained mind has calculated the odds and returned a decimal so small he does not want to count the zeroes in front of it. Sabre has no hope, and he cannot cope with the host human emotions her disappearance dumps into his mind - useless, illogical feelings that only bring him pain. Fate has dealt him a final, crushing blow, and he has lost the girl he loves just when he has finally become almost human...