Humanity perches on the edge of a knife. The Foundry has turned their backs. For tens of thousands of years, humanity has committed many sins, but not protecting life has been its worst.

After fleeing the scene of a mass murder with new terraforming equipment aboard, and seeing only a single, dangerous path remaining back to Earth, Milo and his crew must face challenges both strange and terrible to reach the planet they were born of. What they find back in SOL, however, is not what they had hoped for. Time has passed, and that place is long gone. Conflict and strife and war have taken its place, bringing wonders and nightmares in equal measures.

Will they be able to save what the entire species could not? Will the Foundry change its mind and help, or will all that humanity has ever known become a mere footnote for those who uncover its remains a million years from now?

In the end, it is Milo who must decide humanity's fate-and if that fate costs more than he is willing to give up.