A young man living opposite a laundrette (or laundromat) sees a beautiful young woman undressing and getting inside one of the washing machines...

My name is Xeno Certain. I'm 16 years old. My father says I'm special. My doctors think I'm insane. I think I'm normal. I have been sent into a white room for The Process. During The Process, the Weeds are sent into white rooms. The Weeds have no human contact for six months, then the Zeros come in. The Zeros are the mind-wipers that watch us, guard us, and teach us. Once we are done with The Process, the Zeros release us back into society with our minds transformed and finely tuned to do what pleases the leader. "Blood before freedom," Eric Vanderdam would always tell me.

Can a troubled investigator rescue humanity from its mistakes? Bill Taggart lost his wife and his last spark of happiness on humanity's new home. Now as part of the team sent to monitor the indigenous aliens on Exilon 5, the investigator hopes to find a clue to explain her disappearance. But when official reports on the mysterious race clash with Bill's findings, he wonders just how many secrets the terraformed planet holds... This book was previously published as Becoming Human.