The novel takes place in 4034 A.D. With the assistance of other species, humans have spread across the galaxy, which is largely ruled by the Mercatoria, a complex feudal hierarchy, with a religious zeal to rid the galaxy of artificial intelligences, which were blamed for a previous war. Our Hero, Fassin Taak, live on the outskirts of the galaxy and has to search for a secret hidden for half a billion years. But with each day that passes a war draws closer - a war threatening to overwhelm everything and everyone he has ever known.
