Twenty minutes from now, visitors from a far-off world will fall into Earth's orbit and issue a most unexpected request…these "Emissaries" invite a single human being to be selected as a representative for all of Earth in an intergalactic Parliament. Mankind is given five years in which to prepare this volunteer for the rigors of space travel and the intricacies of alien diplomacy. Scientist Dr. Richard Wymond devises the ZETTA serum -- a nano-biological cocktail that will augment its recipient with nearly superhuman abilities. But when Wymond's daughter is mortally injured in a freak accident, he makes a fateful decision, and rather than let her die, he injects Evie with the world's only sample of the ZETTA serum. Now the fate of the world rests on the shoulders of one 17-year-old girl. How will Evie cope with this awesome responsibility? Will she survive the strange political intrigues of Parliament? And more important, are the "Emissaries'" intentions as honorable as they have led us to believe?