Earths Zero Asset citizens no longer face extermination from orbit. Thanks to Alan Saul the Committees network of control is a smoking ruin & its robotic enforcers lie dormant. But power abhors a vacuum & scrambling from the wreckage comes the ruthless Serene Galahad. She must act while the last vestiges of Committee infrastructure remain intact & she has the means to ensure command is hers. On Mars Var Delex fights for the survival of Antares Base while the Argus Space Station hurls towards the red planet. & she knows whomever or whatever trashed Earth is still aboard. Var must save the base while also dealing with the first signs of rebellion. & aboard Argus Station Alan Sauls mind has expanded into the local computer network. In the process he uncovers the ghastly experiments of the Humanoid Unit Development the possibility of eternal life & a madman who may hold the keys to interstellar flight. But Earths agents are closer than Saul thinks & the killing will soon begin.