MECHANICAL CREATURES from afar — known to all as starbots — proved hostile when they appeared on Earth. US forces wiped them out in bloody battle, and the ancient treasure they were seeking fell into human hands. Now another ship is coming, and its crew is preparing an assault to regain the prize. Nothing stands between men and machines except Nicolette Traeger, a casualty of war re-spawned as a starbot emissary — half human, half robot. Whose side is she on?