Back in print at last! L. Warren Douglas's vast tapestry of a compelling future, and mankind's quest for the stars.Yan Bando suffered from the family curse--a mindless, deadly violence that overcame him in the face of danger. So he chose the quiet life of an antiquarian, poring over the ancient documents from the times before the alien Ferosin had visited Earth, before the alien-worshiping Pharos-Church had come to power in the flooded realm once called North America.Now his quiet pursuit of knowledge landed him in big trouble: he had uncovered the secret behind the Pharos Church: the aliens had never really left. They ruled secretly, their great starships splashing down far at sea. And the Church kept humanity ignorant in a world of dust and donkeys, a world lit by fires and candles, where innovation was punished by death.Humans were destined to remain earthbound, because only the alien Ferosin could pilot through the twists and turns of the fabric of space and remain sane. Early human attempts had proven that. But excavating the wreck of an ancient buried spaceship, Yan made a discovery that would upend history: the bones in the cockpit chairs were human. And the Church's dogmas were lies.But what to do about it? Buried in the moldering documents of the ancient University at Nahbor were the clues that would send Yan on a momentous journey to right an ancient wrong and set humanity back on the path to the stars.