life on other planets

Phosphophyllite and her team of deserters travel back to the moon where they discover what happened to their captured friends. While there, the Lunarians offer to make Phos and her team whole again if they will help the Lunarians achieve their ultimate goal.

Now that Phosphyllite knows the Lunarians speak, she continues on her journey to the moon to get answers.

When Phosphophyllite's head is taken to the moon, it means the defeated gem can be revived only one way--a head transplant. Lapis Lazuli volunteers, but now that Phos's body has a new head, the others wonder if it is still the original Phos.

Despite the hatred the other gems have for the Lunarians, Pho makes an effort to communicate. But the job is perhaps more difficult than one gem can handle.

Pho gets new legs and can now go to battle. But when the times comes to fight, he is too afraid. To punish himself, he stays awake all winter while the other gems sleep.

When Ventricosus the sea snail suggests that sea creatures may have much needed answers, Pho and Cinnabar head to sea to find a less lonely job for Cinnabar. But the two are not built for the sea and experience danger and hardship.

Two hundred years after an attack on the Lustrous, Phosphophyllite tries to get Kongo to pray for the Lunarians again, and the Lunarians ready themselves to pass into nothingness. The gemstones prepare for life alone on the moon, and Euclase wakes up.

Crystalline lifeforms called The Lustrous fight for their way of life against Lunarians who want to use them for decorations. The oldest among them, Phosphophyllite, wants to join the battle, but is instead ordered to complete a natural history of the gems. And while initially disappointed, Pho makes a new friend in an isolated gem named Cinnabar.

"Through . . . up-to-date information about the latest technology and space exploration, readers will learn about the search for life in space"--Provided by publisher.

Text and illustrations describe conditions on other planets and how those conditions would affect life on that planet.