Humanity is going through difficult times, struggling to resist alien invaders, religious fanatics who claim that they have arrived on a mission to bring all sentient life in the Universe to their God at the End of Time. However, while billions of cocooned people fill the holds of the inexorable Olyx ark ships, humanity plays its own game - a game much longer than the aliens could expect. Nothing is ruled out - from a top-secret spy mission to the most epic battle the world has ever seen. Will a plan thousands of years in the making be enough to defeat a seemingly insurmountable enemy? And what secrets do the Olyx actually hide in their jealously guarded stronghold of the enclave? With his characteristic optimism about humanity's resilience and potential for greatness, Peter F. Hamilton brings this brilliant saga to a dramatic conclusion—and reminds us why freedom of choice is the most important of freedoms .