A Rumor of Angels

the long version

Back cover - The maximum securty prisons where Earth permanently disposes of its most troublesome citizens. Jude Rowe has survived six years in the Wards, and now Earth Intelligence is offering her a way out. The price -a one-way trip to Arkoi, and Eden-like planey, with its childlike, primitive natives and its thriving human colony, Bit there is something terribly wrong with this picture of paradise. Every expedition sent beyond the colony's border has disappeared. The few survivors who eventually straggle back are totally, permanently insane. Are Arkoi's natives not as docile as the seem? Or are there some Others out there ready to destroy and humans who stumble into their territory? Can Hide alone succeed where whole expeditions have failed? Or will she too canish without a trace while two worlds wgirl closer and closer to a final catclysmic confrontation?