Fresh out of the academy, police detective Lyndon Bates is eager for his first big assignment. But he couldn't imagine how big it was going to be: Investigating the murder of Crenshaw Connelly, the galaxy's biggest reality star, on the grounds of a secretive religious order on another planet. And there's a catch: Only women are allowed inside.Lyndon is subjected to cutting-edge technology and ventures onto planet Halcyon as a woman. She soon realizes the question of who killed Crenshaw is only one of the mysteries lurking within the walls of this paradise-like convent, where no one seems to age, and Lyndon isn't alone in not being what she seems.

It's a gala like no other: A wealthy philanthropist has brought the best scientific minds and deep-pocketed donors to her underwater mansion for a summit on one of Earth's most pressing crises: a deadly epidemic sweeping through the ancient aquean people, who have lived underseas for longer than humans have existed. And veteran reporter Hiroe Anno is determined to capture the story for her news service-even if it means overcoming her intense phobia of the ocean.Then, guests start disappearing, and a young aquean poet pulls Hiroe-and her estranged mentor from a rival news service-into an investigation where each new disturbing discovery seems to raise new questions-about their hostess, about the nature of the disease, and about the search for the cure.