This sequel to The Book in the Loft and The Necklace finds the universe distorted and the crews of the Circle of Planets starship Explorer and the Surion battle cruiser Doras trapped in an inside-out world. During a short but decisive battle with aliens that appear from out of Earth's past, the stars suddenly vanish, and when two of Explorer's crew disappear, Captain Jon Varkon and Surion Captain Korron set out to find the cause that twisted space and time and changed everything they knew. Their journey takes them to the secrets of creation gone wrong - to loss, abandonment and death, with no idea how to return to the life they knew.