"The President was alive. I was alive. No idea what the hell had just happened, other than that I was simply alive, and glad of it." Nations of Earth Ambassador Cory Wilson had thought the hardest part of his role would be mastering the many intricacies of gamra pronouns. Then the President is shot in front of him, and all clues point to extraterrestrial agencies. Only the truth will prevent the conflict escalating, but to find it, Cory has to challenge the very top of the Coldi hierarchy, in a society where the simple act of looking someone in the eye or using the wrong pronouns can mean the difference between life and death.