To escape poverty and misery, Ramón Espejo boards one of the large spaceships of the strange and repulsive Inai and leaves Earth for good. But the life he finds on the distant planet São Paulo is no better than the one he left behind.
Then, one night, his anger and a lot of alcohol take over. The violent outcome forces him to flee into the wilderness of the unexplored north. Finally alone –far from the noisy, stifling human hive that he detests to the point of anti-social mania– the unfortunate Ramón, a professional mine scout, can now search freely for the big vein that will make him rich.
But instead of a vein, he accidentally discovers an unknown hyper-evolved race of alien creatures: desperate fugitives, like him, who live hidden in their own world. Suddenly in possession of a powerful dangerous secret and trapped in an improbable manhunt in the wilderness of an unpredictable and hostile planet, Ramón must first escape… and then, somehow, survive. And the deadliest enemy is himself.
Read an excerpt
For many generations, humanity had emerged from the gravitational wells of Earth, Mars, and Europa and had ascended to the stars with dreams of conquest. Humanity aspired to sow its seed throughout the universe, like a son of a high counselor in a port brothel, but was met with great disappointment. The universe was occupied. Other star-faring races had taken the lead.
The dreams of a galactic empire were downgraded to dreams of wealth. The dreams of wealth faded into a feeling of humility, shame, and awe. More than the magnificent, enigmatic technologies of the Silver Inai and the Turu, what ultimately subdued them was the very nature of space, just as it had subdued every other race of star travelers.
