A new life...or is it"? Jim Endicott isn't himself. Becoming one with the Omega Point, he used its awesome intelligence to alter his own past and save the lives of the only parents he's ever known, But does the alternate Jim remember the past? Dimly aware of his vast Omega powers, Jim must deal with a heartbreaking revelation: Carl and Tabitha, his "parents," aren't who he thinks they are at all! Who are they? And why are they sending him far away on a world-sized starship, crammed with millions of misfits and outlaws? No longer on the fast track to the Space Academy, Jim falls in with the Stone Cowboys, a deep space street gang that will teach him about courage, loyalty, and love -- in the form of a gangmate named Samantha Forging ahead with his new life, Jim nearly forgets his former Omega destiny until "the Heat" appears, a strange narcotic with lethal effects that threatens to take over the ship -- and beyond....