The fourth instalment in the GAP sequence: Stephen Donaldson's fascinating universe peopled with characters of a passion and intensity only he could create.

As the planetoid Thanatos Minor explodes into atoms, the Trumpet hurtles into space, just one step ahead of hostile pursures. On board the Trumpet are Nick Succorso, Morn Hyland, her force-grown son Davies and the cyborg Angus Thermopyle, old enemies now thrown together in a desperate bid for survival. The only hope for the exhausted crew is an illegal lab in a distant binary solar system and that means a journey of unpredictable dangers from which they may not return ...