For eight years now, Earth has been a colony of the Insects—a powerful alien civilization. But the truth revealed to Maxim Vorontsov is even worse: Earth was never free. Now he is forced to leave his home planet and hide among the Altered—former people who have become soldiers of the Insects.
He must understand why the Insects wage endless wars against the Old Ones. Learn what the Meanings are—things they collect as tribute from captured planets. And find a way to free Earth from its eternal slavery—because only then will he be able to get his love back.
But how cruel this path is! And what if the cure turns out to be more dangerous than the disease?