'One day, you will die. One day, all the people you have hurt will destroy you, and you will die. You won't be immortalised-you'll be forgotten. Ground underfoot by every person, every life, that you have tainted. And I'll laugh. On that day, I will laugh.' Troy McIntosh is Caeltanican to the bone. Son of a legendary pilot, Troy wanders Tellus, stealing and scrapping to survive, after his home is destroyed in the nuclear wars. Until one day, his life takes an unexpected turn: he is swept off to the neighbouring planet Ra and adopted by a scientist and his wife. But Ra is not anything like Troy imagined. The sickness plaguing Tellus, and that has infected Troy, is getting worse. Meanwhile, his new father, Aris, is up to something. Madness. Sickness. Claustrophobia. The birth of Gods. Troy descends into the dark and lonely world of vaccinations and parasites, a place where one can only live inside one's head. A world he must escape. Although Aris may not want to let him go. Aris is not done with Troy. . . Yet.