<b>ORIGINAL TRADE PAPERBACK</b><BR><BR>THE WAYPOINT TO ULTIMATE POWER!<BR><BR> Over a millennium in the past, humans fleeing Earth in slower-than-light vessels discovered the Waywork, an abandoned alien superhighway system that allows instantaneous travel from star to star. The problem: there are a finite number of Waypoint nodes—and the burgeoning population of humans is hemmed in as a result. Furthermore, humanity is divided into contending Starstates. One of the strongest is based on an oligarchy ruling families, but still mostly democratic. The other is a totalitarian nightmare. War seems inevitable.<BR><BR> Now a new Waypoint appears. Might it lead to the long-lost creators of the Waywork? If so, there may be knowledge and technology that will tip the balance in the coming war. <BR><BR> Three people race to make it to the new Waypoint—and beyond<i>. </i>These include Wyodreth Antagean, the reluctant son of an interstellar shipping magnate, Lady Garsina Oswigh