The Tau Device [Paperback]

Lory Gato enjoys the privileged life, of an interstellar gourmet He gets sent to T'negi 36 where humans have a small presence. As new kids on the galactic block, humanity get the scraps - T'negi 36 is nearly airless and it'll be a long time before it's fit to live on. The few bars on T'negi 36 are closed because of problems with humans. He arranges, anyway, to meet a t'negi xeno-archaeologist, Liasse, who is researching a long dead civilisation. She believes whatever destroyed it is still a threat. Lory has a run in with Earthers - humans who believe their manifest destiny is to (somehow) overthrow alien civilisations, steal alien terraforming technology, and colonize. The technology that powers interstellar civilisation suddenly fails. . . then it turns out that the Earthers have powerful allies. Lory and Liasse are thrown together in a desperate bid to survive.