Lena Anders has no interest in going to Earth. With an acceptance letter to The University of South Mars pending, a "friends with benefits" who might actually be something more, and a recent assassination of Earth's emperor - yeah, she'd much rather stay in space. But when the new emperor enacts a televised exchange program as an attempt to mend broken ties between the space stations and Earth, everyone Lena cares about eagerly volunteers despite how dangerous it could be. Soon terrifying connections between the deadly disease sweeping the space stations and the new Earthern Emperor start to arise. Connections that everyone else refuses to see. But if Lena can't figure out a solution from 200 million miles away, her baby sister, best friend, and the stupid boy she's falling in love with might never make it home.