The fight for the future of the whales has just begun. As Seiiki, now escorted by a military contingent from Earth United, draws ever closer to New Eden, Kim Teng must learn to split her role of Caretaker with another, navigate a new relationship with Wren, and deal with the suffocating guilt of having been part of the Crusaders, all while maintaining her cover as social media star Hannah Monksman. What could possibly go wrong? With tensions rising back on Earth between the Adherants, a sect devoted to keeping humanity from colonizing space, and Earth United, it is even more important for Seiiki and the whales to reach New Eden quickly and safely. But as the contingent comes out of hyperspace, an unknown computer error sends them off-course into an asteroid belt. The military escort ships land badly damaged on New Eden, and the whales are trapped inside a crippled Seiiki, several kilometers from the planned landing site. And it seems their new home planet is not the peaceful paradise they expected. Strange creatures howl in the night, probes that were sent to populate the oceans with fish are found disabled, and ancient ruins in the jungle nearby suggest the Ark Project wasn’t the first landing party on New Eden. When people begin disappearing from their basecamp, Kim and her friends soon realize that while someone didn’t want them to ever arrive at New Eden, someone—or something—else wanted to make sure they did.