[3] Tens of millions of years in the future, sisters Adrana and Arafura ('Fura') Ness are skilled bone readers—the primary method by which spaceships communicate with one another.

Prozor guides Fura to a shady bar with a contact who could help her find a ship, but they are surprised by the man once dispatched by her father to shepherd her back home.

He insists her sister is dead, stuns Prozor, and forces Fura to wear a tracking bracelet before he takes her aboard a commercial clipper ship.

She finds the remains of the old robot who once served as the sisters' guardian and tutor, repairs him, and hears the message left for her by Prozor.

Fura manages to sway her captain to set course for the Fang, where their exploratory party finds the legendary weapons and armor cache deep within.

Fura and her crew don the alien armor, fight the pirate boarding party, and finally defeat Bosa, although their ship suffers catastrophic damage.

They agree to pursue the thrill of cracking more baubles and Fura retires to Bosa's cabin to write her true account of her adventure.