On Veridia, a planet of perfect, eons-long biological stasis, veteran xeno-evolutionist Dr. Lyra Kincaid expects another routine survey. But her "control group" erupts into chaos when an ancient Precursor Evolutionary Engine awakens, unleashing a genetic storm that violently rewrites the native Skarren. As monstrous new "Shards" of life battle for dominance amidst planetary meltdown, Lyra and her AI companion, Darwin-Eight, must confront a horror that defies all known evolutionary principles, desperately seeking to understand the Engine's catastrophic purpose.
Their desperate struggle against the rogue artifact becomes a race against cosmic annihilation when the Preservers, enigmatic guardians of an ancient compact, arrive with a chilling ultimatum: stabilize the Engine, or Veridia faces total sterilization. With time running out, Lyra is forced into an impossible alliance with Veridia’s mutated spawn, embarking on a perilous descent into the heart of a god-machine. Can she tune a symphony of destruction and save a world from forces beyond human comprehension, or will Veridia become another casualty in an ancient, indifferent cosmic war?