The Interdependency, humanity's interstellar empire, is on the verge of collapse. The Flow, the extra-dimensional conduit that makes travel between the stars possible, is disappearing, leaving entire star systems stranded. When it goes, human civilization may go with it--unless desperate measures can be taken. Emperox Grayland II, the leader of the Interdependency, is ready to take those measures to help ensure the survival of billions. But nothing...

"Humans expanded into space ... only to find a universe populated with multiple alien species bent on their destruction. Thus was the Colonial Union formed, to help protect us from a hostile universe. The Colonial Union used the Earth and its excess population for colonists and soldiers. It was a good arrangement ... for the Colonial Union. Then the Earth said: no more. Now the Colonial Union is living on borrowed time-a couple of decades at most,...

Perry and Sagan are back in the thick of interstellar politics, betrayal, and war as leaders of a new human colony, to be peopled by settlers from all the major human worlds.