Three thousand years ago, the seeds arrived from Earth on hundreds of worlds. The developed worlds formed the Network, connected only by radio and laser. Since the time of the seeds, nothing but information has traveled between the stars. Now a starship, The Child of Ambition, is changing that. Her first mission: to explore the dark worlds, the ones that failed.

The Black Seed Folds Space

Not an object, but a place--a manifold in space. A thing so hard to create, the Ancients only ever made three. The heart of a starship, or the core of the deadliest weapon in human history. The most precious thing in the Universe--or the most dangerous.

Alon Ienian--scientist, soldier, assassin. Member of a force so secret no operative will speak its true name. He came out of retirement to kill an old friend, and accepted a mission from his worst enemy, to save his home world from itself.

The black seed must be controlled, and Aestas--Summer World--holds the key. Outside air temperature: minus fifty degrees Celsius. After the oceans freeze and the weather ends, only the dead remain.