Caine Riordan and his self-styled -Crewe- have survived their first months on the planet they call Bactradgaria. They-ve overcome floods, dust storms, tornadoes, searing heat, bitter cold, desperate battles, and attacks by various strange species. However, their most desperate struggles have been against the wildly ferocious x-qao, for whom the pursuit and genocide of other beings is as much a sport as it is a strategy. Accordingly, Caine and his friends realize that if they are to endure, they must not merely survive but thrive. So far, they-ve done just that and made friends along the way. But a few scattered tribes and towns can't defeat the x-qao and their vassals. To do that, humans must claw higher up the food chain . . . before they tumble off into extinction.
