The first intelligent species to encounter mankind attacked without warning. With little hope of halting the invasion, Earth's last roll of the dice was to dispatch three colony ships, seeds of Earth, to different parts of the galaxy. The human race would live on somewhere.

Darien is no longer a lost outpost of humanity, but the prize in an intergalactic power struggle. Hegemony forces have a stranglehold over the planet and crack troops patrol its hotspots while Earth watches, passive, rendered impotent by galactic politics. But its Darien ambassador will soon become a player in a greater conflict.

Darien's future hangs in the balance as conflict rages across the planet's surface and, in the skies above, interstellar power politics has turned to war. On one side lies the Construct AI and its millennia-long mission to protect sentient species. On the other is an army of twisted machine intelligences and its allies, whose goal is nothing less than the destruction or subversion of all organic life. They were caged in a hyperspace prison beneath Darien in a past age but now they are roaring to the surface, to freedom and an orgy of destruction which will rend the planets - starting with...

Science fiction on an epic scale - a stand-alone science fiction adventure set in Michael Cobley's bestselling Humanity's Fire universe. Perfect for fans of Iain M. Banks or James S. A. Corey's Expanse series. Now in paperback