2700 - Mankind has spread across the stars, building a number of civilizations in counterpoint, or even in direct opposition to, the United Sol System. The Hydran Confederation is primary among these.

But for all the differences between the USS and its stellar offspring, they still have certain things in common. First among them being their inability to improve upon the Marston Drive to give Man a true, full-blown warp drive. Despite the passage of time and herculean scientific effort, Man still travels through space only as quickly as it will allow him.

That is not stopping the Interstellar Geographic Society. With the help of several stellar nations working in conjunction, it is finally beginning to reach out in a major effort to explore all that Man has claimed as his own. And if they happen to find Forerunner technology that helps them break the limits of the Marston Drive, then Man will benefit from that, too.

If, that is, they are not all destroyed from within by the appearance of a new and incredibly potent drug that is sweeping through all of Human-occupied space like a plague.

2200 - The Colonial Wars are over. Most of Tellus's newly independent colonies have chosen to join with the motherworld to form The United Sol System. But not everyone. There are those who wish to go their own way. To pursue their own beliefs--social, religious, political--in the way that seems best to them. Utilizing the Marston Drive, they do just that, beginning the human race's first great drive beyond its immediate environs.

New worlds have been found and settled: the Single Worlds, the Hydra Confederation, and a score of other fledgling civilizations have set down roots and begun to grow.

This is a closed novel, with members working closely together on a carefully detailed and pre-arranged scenario, and at the moment we are not accepting any applications.

Dust jacket and novel images are by the great sf and space artist, John Berkey.