The only thing keeping Jenny Starchild alive is her interface with the Arachne, an artificial brain that keeps Jenny's organs operating and controls a warship. But the situation also makes her powerful, and she knows what she's going to do with her life. She is going to weave a new star nation out of the materials she has at hand: A strand of compassion here, a strand of fierce pride there. The love of community of the alien Parthians woven together with human individuality. The computing and reasoning abilities of artificial brains woven together with the genetically engineered Cybrants. It's going to take all of Jenny's exuberance and all of Arachne's powers, not to mention some luck. But if they can weave this new nation, then billions of people - humans and other sorts of people - will have life, liberty, and a chance to pursue their own happiness in their own way. On the other hand, if Jenny, Arachne, and her human and Parthian allies fail in the task, they're probably all going to be destroyed - and so might whole star systems.