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### From Publishers Weekly A frontier society outwits a big, uncaring parent company in this appealing joint venture by McCaffrey ( Damia's Children ) and Scarborough ( The Healer's War ), the Hugo and Nebula Award-winning representatives of two generations of science fiction writers. Major Yanaba Maddock, medically retired with severely damaged lungs after military action aboard a space station, is pressured into acting as a spy by her employer, the sinister Intergal corporation. Colonel Giancarlo, local head of psychological operations, seeks evidence that colonists on the bitterly cold and inhospitable planet Petaybee are abducting company geological survey teams, engaging in illegal genetic engineering and plotting rebellion. Yana finds the locals charming, helpful and uncannily effective as healers; their home remedies salvage her ruined lungs. As the company and its forces move in to quell what they perceive as rebellion, Yana casts her lot with the Petaybeans and geneticist Sean Shongili, the man she has come to love. Perceptive characterizations and a vivid depiction of a nurturing culture integrated with nature make up for the somewhat hackneyed plot. Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. ### From School Library Journal YA-A well-written, entertaining novel. Ex-soldier Major Yanaba Maddock has retired to the "company" planet of Petaybee due to major lung damage from poison gas. Strange things are going on there. Survey teams are disappearing, and the locals are acting suspiciously. As it turns out, the planet is alive and the natives have formed a beneficial symbiotic relationship with it, and it is threatened by the exploitive company that is mining precious gems. While not a completely original idea, the story will be enjoyed by McCaffrey and Scarborough fans alike. *John Lawson, Fairfax County Public Library, VA* Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.