"Stel Cain is on a mission to rise from the depths of the sea, where humanity has fled to save itself from the ravages of a dying sun, and be the first human in millennia to walk the scorched surface of the earth. There, she believes, a deep-space probe holds the coordinates to an inhabitable world and promises to restore hope to all of humanity. The the rumor of the probe is spreading, and has reached the ears of one of the feared Ministers of Though from the icy iry of Voldin, where hoping for a better future is a crime punishable by death" -- page 4 of cover.