I'm not going to rate this book because it's clear that it's not finished. OEB herself pulled this one off shelves because she thought of it as her "Star Trek" novel AND it was unfinished. If you've read this and want to get some insight on some of the Tekhon characters before they're involved with Alana, you should read the short story "A Necessary Being" in the book "Unexpected Stories" by Octavia E. Butler.