Following on from the events of book 1, scientist and ex-miner Paul Heath is being pursued by the sinister governmental organisation The Union. He has escaped from them once but then he makes a terrifying discovery. Hidden within the Bok Globule that masks Ventos from visible observations, he locates a far future version of the Earth on which all life has been destroyed and finds evidence that The Union is to blame. With The Union in hot pursuit, he heads back to Ventos to end the conspiracy once and for all.