Archivist Luc Gabion has finally achieved his life's goal - of bringing down Winchell Antonov, head of the Black Lotus terrorist organisation, and the scourge of the Tian Di's stellar empire for countless years.

But instead of feeling victorious, the encounter has left him scarred. Forcibly implanted with a technology far in advance of anything he's encountered before, Luc sees and hears things he knows he's not supposed to. Worse, the technology is killing him, slowly. So when he finds himself investigating the murder of one of the Tian Di's ruling clique, the Thousand Emperors, he knows he's in real trouble. Any one of them could be the killer, and any one of them could have him put to death on a whim.

Worse, the dead man is the architect of the coming Reunification: two great civilisations, separated for centuries by old enmities, are about to reunite in a new age of peace and prosperity. But it soon becomes clear that someone out there is willing to do anything to make sure that day never comes.

Praise for Gary Gibson: `High-octane action, terrific future tech and a superbly imagined alien civilisation ...a page-turning belter' Daily Mail, `A violent, inventive, relentlessly gripping adventure' The Times, `Gibson has produced a seriously entertaining sci-fi page turner' SFX