Four months into its mission, the Excalibur finds a world for which Capt. Matthew Gideon has long been searching. Although the race which once populated it is dead, the world and its edifaces remain intact.Although Max Eilerson is elated -- perhaps now he will find some technology worth exploiting -- his delight is not shared by all. Galen, in particular, is concerned. For a century, techonomages have been warned away from the planet. The one mage who refused to believe the warnings was destroyed after sending a single message: genus locii, "the spirit of the place".Although Galen refuses to land on the planet Gideon, Eilerson, Dureena, and others head down to investigate, each in their own way. But when night falls, the "stalking death" strikes...