The first volume in Philip C. Quaintrell's Terran Cycle quadrilogy is a fantastic galaxy-spanning epic, which explores the origins of mankind. Kalian Gaines has a secret; he just doesn't know it yet. He looks like us, he lives like us... but he is not one of us. Kalian knows nothing outside of his mundane life teaching history on 30th century Earth, until a day like any other triggers a series of events, which will tie his fate to that of humanity. A human hand print, embedded into a rock with alien script, is discovered on a moon that mankind has never set foot on. This discovery holds a secret, which will sweep Kalian into the heart of a conspiracy that has stained the galaxy for two hundred thousand years.