The Great Experiment has failed. The Ten Thousand Year Empire of the Han has lasted less than two centuries and now not a single  stack remains of the great city of ice that once covered the habitable earth. Europe is DeVore's, America is a brutal dictatorship, while the rest of the globe groans beneath the rule of callous warlords. Li Yuan, once the most powerful man on earth, is now an exile in America. Banished to an endless round of tours and banquets, he unexpectedly finds a new role -- one that will once more tie him to the destiny of Chung Kuo. And then there is Kim Ward, the Star-Seeker, the spider in the web. Will he leave Chung Kuo to its fate? Or will he turn his great fleet around and return to fight one final battle -- winner takes all?