A life-or-death stakes safari adventure from the acclaimed author of Origin and Vitro, which thoughtfully examines the unintended consequences of scientific experimentation. When an educational safari goes wrong, five teens find themselves stranded in the Kalahari Desert without a guide. lt's up to Sarah, the daughter of zoologists, to keep them alive and lead them to safety. But soon they encounter something even Sarah cannot believe: a silver lion, as though made of mercury, makes a vicious, unprovoked attack on the group. After a narrow escape, the group uncovers the chilling truth behind the lion's silver sheen: a Corpus-manufactured, if highly contagious and deadly virus that threatens to ravage the entire area and eliminate life as they know it.