Nearly 100,000 years after first contact with the machines that dominate
the universe, only a few hundred humans survive. Trapped on Snowglade, a
barren world near the center of the galaxy, Killeen and his child, Toby,
of the Bishop Tribe are primitive scavengers, homeless and hunted by the
ruling "mechs". Then suddenly, a strange cosmic entity - neither organic
nor cybernetic or living matter - reaches out from a black hole to speak
with Killeen. But can the fallen descendent of starfarers understand
this being in time--and seize his only chance to save his family and
mankind from final annihilation?