Idalia of the Stars

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny...."

Idalia Peterson is flying to a new world. Earth, too crowded to sustain life and wrecked by war, is no longer home. Instead, Idalia, her mother, her new friends, and a thousand others are making a voyage to the colony among the stars.

The plan is to inhabit a previous colony, which was thought to have died long ago. But when the new settlers arrive, they find not a lifeless planet, waiting to be tamed, but a once-grand city filled with citizens now struggling to survive the days. Resources are limited, and with no hope of returning to Earth, the new colonists and the old must figure out how to coexist. However, early days of happiness and hospitality soon fade to nights of jealousy, competition and violence.

What the colonists -- both the old and new -- need is fertile soil. There is some fertilizer left, but it was buried when a dam collapsed. Idalia and her friends -- both old and new -- have the chance to bring peace to the city of Alexandria once and for all...but only if they can find the fertilizer and return with it before Admiral Stanley fires the missiles.