This story takes place in the Vorkosigan universe, but takes place about two hundred years before Miles is born. It’s the story of the development of the Quaddies – genetically engineered humans with a second set of hands instead of feet, bred to live and thrive in zero gravity.
It’s very much a cautionary tale of genetic engineering – the Quaddies are a project within a gigantic galatic corporation, and when they’re made obsolete by new technology, the fact that they are a thousand human beings is buried so deep that they face real extinction.
Fortunately, some of the regular humans assigned to their project aren’t so callous, and find a way to help the Quaddies save themselves.
This is actually a pretty hard story to read, because it’s a very good portrayal of some of the worst of human nature. But, I think that’s what makes it an important story, because someday, we are going to be able to do the things in this book, and we need to think really hard about that means for the future of what we think of humanity.