No secret stays hidden forever…Tharsis is finally heading home. Back to Mars. She's done everything the Landlords have asked. What more does she have to offer? She's in a world of trouble now, and execution still isn't off the table. Caleb Ross is in no mood to throw her out an airlock, though. He's got bigger problems to deal with than one insubordinate lieutenant. The crew of the Barachiel may have accepted him, but ASDF high command seems more determined than ever to keep him at arms' length. Neither one can afford to rest. An unknown adversary has pushed an asteroid swarm into a collision course with Mars, one large enough to wipe out all life on the planet. And worse, the rest of the Tenancy is refusing to lift a finger to help stop it. Caleb Ross did, after all, fail to silence Noqumiut and the Arcna, long centuries ago. Nobody knows why, not even him. And the only person who might know, the Landlord of the Inner Shoals, is nowhere to be found. When Tharsis realizes she alone can unravel this final mystery, she has to find the strength for one last journey. Caleb doesn't like it, but he doesn't have a choice but to trust her; he's too busy fighting the asteroids, the ASDF, and the rest of the Tenancy to find the answers for himself. Her desperate hunt will take Tharsis across Mars to the very seat of the Tenancy's power, where the truth will either save her planet or condemn it to extinction.
