Near the end of the twenty-seventh century, when the interstellar age was just dawning, two ships set out from Earth to escape the fascist theocracy that had taken over North America. One was the Bremerhaven, the other the Seeker. On a distant planet, the voyagers established a colony they named Margolia. Then they and the colony disappeared from recorded history.

Thousands of years later, the legendary status of Margolia has made it the new Atlantis - and of special interest to antiquities dealer Alex Benedict when he comes into possession of a cup that seems to be from the Seeker. Investigating the provenance of the cup, Alex and Chase Kolpath follow a deadly trail to the Seeker - strangely adrift in a system barren of habitable worlds. But their discovery raises more questions than it answers, drawing Alex and Chase into the center of the mystery that is Margolia - and into the very heart of danger.

2007 Nebula Award