The Ship Who Searched — Anne McCaffrey; Mercedes Lackey

Set in the same universe as The Ship Who Sang and PartnerShip, The Ship Who Searched tells the story of a shellperson and her search for the EsKays, a star-faring race whose artifacts are scattered throughout the galaxy, but whose fate is a mystery.

It all began when Tia, a bright and spunky seven-year old accompanying her exo-archaeologist parents on an EsKay dig, was afflicted by a mysterious neural disorder, one whose progressing symptoms finally permit her no life at all outside of some total mechanical support system. But like The Ship Who Sang, Tia won't be satisfied to glide through life like a ghost in a glorified wheelchair; like Helva, Tia is going to strap on a spaceship!

But Tia has also set herself on a special mission: to seek out whatever it was on the EsKay planet that laid her low, to come to understand and then eliminate it -- so that no other little girl will ever suffer the fate of THE SHIP WHO SEARCHED