Invidia

Erica Carter awakens weak, emaciated, and connected to medical monitors in a strange, sterile room. An exotic long-haired figure inserts a device into a coupling nodule in her abdomen, which causes intense pain and nausea. She passes out from pain.

When she awakens, she can understand him but he cannot understand her. As he disconnects her from the monitors, he informs her she has been "chambered."

He is "H'dahl'h". She is "H'Erhic'ha." He informs her that she is on "Shee" and was to assist the "Shee'a." She bears the "Pure" until it is needed to heal the Shee. When a Shee requires healing, the restored Pure are extracted from her and chambered into the Shee.

She is introduced to her host family, clan Y'lates'ha. H'k'letta'hen is the father, governor of the southeastern quadrant of H'adesen'e. The mother is B'reka'na of clan T'ahoit'ah, hereditary rulers of the southern continent. Her uncle is Secundus of the Shee'a. Their children are H'Pretusk'im and Cort'nase." (She calls the boy "Tusk" and the girl "Cort.")

"H'dahl'h" explains that Shee'a is a planet in a binary-star system, one of which is a pulsar. The Pulsar altered 700 years earlier, sending out intense electro-magnetic beams which decimated Shee's magnetic poles, increased the tilt of the planet, and destroyed most life in the northern hemisphere. The population steadily migrated to the southernmost continent, which is now contaminated. The only surviving city is H'adesen'e.

Shee immune systems were destroyed by the radiation, causing cancer. A treatment was developed using micro-organisms found at the South Pole. These organisms were immune to- and thrived on- radiation. When injected into a Shee, they purify the organs and blood. Nicknamed "Pure," they can remain in a Shee for only so long before they needed filtering.

When she awoke, "H'dahl'h" could understand her because he is now c