It's all been leading up to this. While Alan and Desa have gone on with their lives and nearly forgotten the expedition of Gordon's Lamp, different groups on the expedition have been taking actions that will force them to think about Alan's origin once again.
It is the struggle of the Ava's to cover up their crime that really determines the fate of Alan, Desa and maybe billions more of the mortal humans on the planet below. The conscious entity that may be hiding in the circuitry of their simulated universes might be the being that holds the key that can unravel all that is unexplained about the study planet.
Until now there are several separate stories open in the second expedition. All the parts that seem to be unrelated come together in this volume. If you have read The Tdeshi Quest and The Aluminum Quest you may be partially prepared for the shock of this ending. Even so, when it ends, you may not be totally sure what just happened.