In AD 2154, John Hackett's adventure is just beginning. In Year 30, Mela's story is coming to a close. John Hackett intends to travel to the Andromeda galaxy. The five-million-year trip at near lightspeed will see him age only decades. He will return to a vastly different time. His mission: to help prepare mankind for a far-future galactic collision. His vocation: to remember those he has lost, for as long as possible. Elsewhere, elsewhen, Mela's people are fleeing. A rising Tide is overwhelming Mela's world, driving extinctions, displacing nations. The scholars have long predicted this end to their home, one of the Thousand Earths. Mela's mission: to save as many of those around her as she can for as long as she can. Her vocation: to remember those she has lost, for as long as possible...… (more)