FIFTY YEARS AGO, THE CREW OF THE ECHO TOOK REFUGE ON THE PLANET HEGEMONY, LEAVING THEIR STARSHIP IN ORBIT BEHIND THEM. FIFTY YEARS LATER, THE DESCENDANTS LOOK TO THE LIGHT PASSING IN THE NIGHT SKY AND WONDER ... Only two generations elapsed before knowledge of the Echo and Earth vanished. All that remain are the Tales: seemingly nonsensical nursery rhymes devised by the Echo's crew to preserve knowledge of the ship and its operation for future generations. But over time these have degenerated into puzzling fragments. Petra the Tale-Keeper senses that life on Hegemony is changing and so imposes order by creating a religion based on the Tales. But Sarai, a misfit outcast, finds the Echo crew's first encampment and a computer containing a record of their journey. As Petra seizes power by murdering any who would stand against her, Sarai returns from the desert bearing the truth. And under a blood red moon, a prophet enters the City ...