A shipwrecked survivor awakens in a hospital on an unknown planet. Who is she? Why is she on Artemis? Slowly and with the help of a kindly doctor, she recovers from her injuries —only to be brutally interrogated by KYRA. The same questions arise again. Who is she? Why is she on Artemis?
The town of Cyrene is laid out in the form of concentric rings that contain shops and meeting places. Aaniya begins to frequent the “passage” as it is known. She meets MALIA and finds a job reviewing contracts but she must pass an important rite of passage– She must hunt “that which is of the earth but not of the sky” and bring back proof.
During the diatherao, AANIYA is almost torn to pieces by beasts in the desert. She is rescued by KHALID in the last minute and he restores her memories. Aaniya then realizes her true identity–she is a negotiator for the Basian government and also a Narbian agent. She had signed up hoping to find out who killed her uncle.
After the diatherao, Aaniya is inducted with much ceremony and pomp. She settles down only to have dissatisfaction about the Artemesian way of life. Why didn’t the planet prosper? Why did people ignore her? Why were the Artemesians unhappy? Who are the Narbians? Why are they kidnapping Artemesians? She then finds out about Kefi, the bio-ware that runs the passage and some of her questions are answered. Artemesians needed to have their internal chemicals regulated or ran the risk of being overwhelmed by depression. Kefi is also wired to reduce conflicts by profiling people and matching them with like minded others.
At the Inter World Olympics, Aaniya watches a duel and realizes some more harsh truths. Artemesian youth have to fight against seasoned men to prove their manhood or face a lifelong humiliation while young Artemesian women are being kidnapped. GAIA, the mayor of Cyrene and head of Artemis Council explains these unusual events. Two centuries earlier, a freedom movement by the name of Al Rahim hijacked a spaceship to escape persecution. At the time of the hijacking, a women’s group was visiting the ship. During the long years, they became a close family until the La Femene hijacked the lander and founded Artemis; Al Rahim went on to colonize Narbia. After settling down, they freqently harassed the Artemesians.
Aaniya’s mission is to render Cyrian security systems benign by injecting a virus.
She enlists the help of Malia to plant the virus–she succeeds, but is almost caught. ROGELFOLAAR, the co-ordinator for the Sian Olympic team, helps her escape and offers her an opportunity to collaborate. Aaniya visits Granesh, their home planet and starts providing intelligence on “Rubium” a compound vital in spaceship drives.
KYRA, Aaniya’s interrogator, discovers the latter’s underground activities but fortunately, Khalid shows up and rescues her again. Aaniya wakes up in Narbia where she discovers the reason behind the kidnappings – Narbians were trying to build their society. The men had gone to war and returned as human shells. Narbians give the women a choice of rehabilitating the vets or settling down on their planet with a selected mate, to fulfill the dreams of Al Rahim–founder of the freedom movement. Aaniya chooses the “mate” option but is somehow mismatched with a domineering man. Khalid appears yet another time to rescue her. Together, they fly into the sunset.
watch the trailer here:
https://youtu.be/JV03J1T32xc?si=IRlt5MdC7f6zxk1O