19 years to get there. 8 years in orbit. “Three minutes to evacuate.” From the author of the #1 Sci-Fi/Fantasy bestseller, The Dig, comes an all-new Sci-Fi thriller. Nine brilliant scientists travel light years on a one-way trip to an Earth-like planet. Their mission is to study from orbit the two species of intelligent lifeforms on the surface. The first: an isolated people embarking on civilization and building their world’s first city. The second: a brutal race of massive predators, spread thick and still growing across the dominant landmass—destined to breed and eat their way to extinction within a few centuries. After eight years of observation, disaster strikes the orbiting station and the remaining crew are ejected not to the safety of the city, but to the other side of the planet, deep inside a land no human could possibly survive