A lone ship piloted by Dorsai Amanda Morgan runs the blockade of Earth. She has come to rouse Hal Mayne from his researches on The Final Encyclopedia.

The news she brings is frightening: Bleys Ahrens plans to lead the forces of the Younger Worlds in a single headlong attack on Earth that must destroy both sides.

But Amanda hasn't come to fight. She spirits Hal away to Kultis, where the secretive Chantry Guild holds mastery over the Alternate Forces. The answers he finds there may decide humanity's most critical moment.