Book excerpt: ""The Spider Star is no star, and the Spider Star is no planet, but it is a place anyway, and its golden heart is the source of all good and evil. But mostly evil. For that which comes last, colors all that has come before."" "Since the information is a hundred thousand years out-of-date, the only hope for Argo is to send a ship and crew into the unknown to find the Spider Star and try to negotiate for a way to shut down the weapon."--BOOK JACKET.