When a governmental research group receives an electronic message from space, the U.S. becomes the first player in intergalactic communications. The second message carries with it an experimental genetic code intended to create the ultimate communications link: a hybrid lifeform utilizing human and alien DNA. The experiment succeeds, and the result is a seemingly normal twelve-year-old girl. But when she starts to change into something more than human, when she appears to be more a threat than a messenger, the U.S. government orders her termination. She quickly learns one of life''s little lessons: In a hostile environment, you can adapt... or you can die.