A planet-wide plot! The stakes? All the world’s people.

The million cities cover every inch of the Earth’s surface with a gleaming metal skin. They penetrate deep into the planet’s core. And billions of people crowd them, fast squandering the depleted resources of an aging world.

The way forward for the human race lies in only one direction: outward to the stars. But only the Chartists are capable of building starships. And the government has outlawed them and subjected them to a vicious reign of terror.

But the Chartists are not what they seem.