MANKIND HAS REACHED THE STARS. Two hundred years after the fall of Mechanism, hu
man society has achieved a kind of stability. There are colonies beneath the oce
ans, throughout the solar system, and beyond: on extrasolar planets.
Vast hem
i-relativistic ships connect these colonies, travelling at half the speed of lig
ht. Or rather they would, if the ominous presence of the alien Watchkeepers had
not led to an enforced moratorium on interstellar travel. But when a seemingly i
mpossible radio signal reaches the colony Crucible, everything changes: SEND NDE
GE It's origin is unpopulated, unexplored space.
