A bold and uncompromising science fiction epic. When miners on a remote colony dig too deep, the golden age of space exploration comes to a bloody end. An alien corruption springs from the soil, possessing every mind it touches. Aboard one of the last colony ships, junior botanist Joy Somerset slumbers in cryostasis, unaware of the spreading chaos. She awakes stranded on Cato – a planet whose menacing sands seem to share a hunger with the crazed locals. Commander Cassimer, a Primaterre veteran dedicated to fighting the corruption, leads his elite strike team to Cato to recover a clandestine starship. On this storm-lashed world, surrounded by shadow and ruin, Cassimer faces not only failure, but the loss of what little sanity he has. Joy and Cassimer must trust each other long enough to uncover Cato’s dark secret and work together to survive deranged cultists, terrorist rebels, and the IRON TRUTH.
