Across the galaxy, tensions are rising between the authoritarian Tandesko Triune and the free-marketeers of the Auricle Alliance. Nevertheless, scientists of both sides have come together in Project Starmuse, to observe the giant star Betelgeuse as it goes supernova. At the space station imbedded inside the roiling star, the team anxiously awaits the return of the one man essential to the success of the project.
A great interstellar migration has begun, down the gateway known as the starstream. Remnant of the Betelgeuse supernova, the starstream is a grand, ethereal highway deep into the Milky Way. It is also a living entity: born of the merged souls of the once-living star and the other beings who died in its creation. Who could have predicted the wonders of the starstream, or the perils it unleashed?