Having obliterated entire civilizations, the Torth Majority is now threatening humanity itself. Barreling through deep space--and hunted every dark mile by armadas, saboteurs, and kamikaze armies--the passengers of a refugee streamship must outrun everything they left behind if they hope to stay alive.

Instilled with illegal superpowers, Ariock is a literal giant among gladiators. It's in his blood: his legendary great-grandfather outwitted the Torth, and Ariock himself dared to betray them. Thomas, on the other hand, is a supergenius. Sure, he's physically disadvantaged, but his mind is a brainwashing, telepathic, terrifying wonder to behold. What he's done to outlast the abuses of his youth is something of a mystery . . . and possibly malevolent. Not even Vy, his caretaker and foster sister, knows all of Thomas's secrets.

What all three share is a fear of the unknown. Their ship on the last dregs of fuel, they crash-land on a distant planet still under the toxic, storm-filled fallout of an ancient nuclear war. Turns out this hell-scape is the ancestral homeworld of the Torth. And while that savage empire couldn't withstand this poisoned sludge of a planet, it doesn't mean they're not still guarding it.

On a predatory world of mutant monstrosities and relentless galactic enemies, Thomas foresees nothing but death and defeat. But it's do-or-die for Ariock and the streamship exiles who are fighting to survive--and somehow find light in a dead city of eternal night.