EARTH'S COLONY HAS ONLY ONE CHANCE OF SURVIVALLa Nueva Temporada is Earth's only extrasolar colony – an Earthtype planet caught in the grip of a very Earth-type Ice Age.Alex Mateo wants nothing more than to stay and contribute to the terraforming of his homeworld. But tragedy strikes the colony, and to save it from starvation and collapse, Alex must reluctantly entrust himself to the Phoenicia, the only starship in existence, to make the long slower-than-light journey back to Earth.But it is his brother Quin, who loathes La Nueva Temporada and all the people on it, who must watch his world collapse around him and become its saviour... while everyone watches the skies for the return of the Phoenicia.

His last thought, as the stun charges lanced through him and he felt his body arch and then start its slow, dreamlike tumble down the stairs, was:What did I do wrong? Rico Garron is in trouble ---­ again. What starts out as a routine expedition back to five thousand BC, turns into the first murder investigation for hundreds of years. A complex spiral of subterfuge, intrigue and powerplay begins to unravel, and now the entire future of the world is at stake . . .