Absolution Gap

DESPERATE TIMES CALL FOR DESPERATE MEASURES

Humanity has endured centuries of plague and a brutal interstellar war: it's time for some peace and quiet.

No such luck: there is a new threat, which could mean extinction for the entire species. Stirred from aeons of sleep, the Inhibitors - ancient alien killing machines - are intent on ridding the galaxy of its latest 'emergent' intelligence.

A ragtag group of refugees flees the first wave of machines, but with their war leader, the war hero Clavain sunk deep in despondency, the actual leadership falls to Scorpio, the product of a flawed experiment in genetic engineering. Though Scorpio has every reason to hate humanity, he believes he has put his grudges - along with his criminal past - behind him.

Then comes an unexpected new element: a girl born in ice, gifted with both the power to lead humanity to safety and the ability to draw down mankind's darkest enemy.

On Hela, where vast travelling cathedrals circle the world in endless procession, the witnessing of a miraculous event has given birth to an apocalyptic new religion. As the cathedrals crawl towards the treacherous fissure known as Absolution Gap, a dark and unsettling truth becomes apparent: to beat one enemy, it may be necessary to forge an alliance with something much, much worse...