Judy Klass

Negotiations between Captain Kirk and the ruling Council of Youngers on the planet Boaca Six are shattered when a Boacan vessel is destroyed--by an experimental Federation ship. In order to prevent full-scale war, the Enterprise must recapture the stolen Starfleet vessel and confront the galaxy's most r eclusive genius and long-buried secrets of Kirk's past.

Lieutenant Rodriguez questions Dennis Kadman about his older brother Michael, who has OD'd on heroin in Dennis' apartment. Dennis wants to know: who gave Michael the drugs? Michael was a cunning, manipulative addict. But he was a diabetic double amputee, placed in his brother's care by the courts--and Dennis tried to keep him alive and drug-free. Through flashbacks, we see the fractious relationship between the brothers, and how they interacted with other "suspects," including Edith, the Jamaican nurse who believed Michael should be allowed to choose to die; Julie, Dennis' fiancée who hated what Michael was doing to Dennis and to their relationship; and Byron, Michael's homeless friend with whom he had lived on the streets. Like Oedipus, while looking for the culprit, Dennis learns far too much about himself.--From publisher description.