Neoteric xenoarchaeology. The study of long dead, advanced alien civilizations. A job that sounds far more glamorous than it is. Most find the work boring. For Adelaide Rowland, it’s a massive step up from working in clinically clean office in one of Earth’s many high-rises. It’s also a chance for fresh start. The planet of Zolidon is as far away as one can get from Earth. The planet is in an ice age, with an upper atmosphere that only the most skilled pilots in the smallest of shuttles can navigate. A human colony rests on one of the mountains, too small to have an official government. A fortress sits on the nearby mountain top, the focus of Adelaide’s new colleagues. All they want is the money discovering new forms of weapons and warfare can bring. But the fortress is not the only abandoned structure on the planet. Deep in the valley, underneath centuries of snow, lies a vast city. It is here that Adelaide begins the job she has always wanted. It is here where her conflict with her fellow archaeologists begins. And it is here where she will have to make a choice: join in the decadence of her comrades, or find some way to get them off the planet. For the people willing to buy weapons are anything but kindly souls, and they will not let a good investment go to waste…