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Description:
Millions of years from now, humanity is on the brink of self-destruction. Advances in science and technology have given the people of Earth access to other worlds but have not bestowed wisdom upon the planets' fractious nations. The world's great leaders decide that the best solution to what looms as a terminal problem is to create an elite group who, by their superior wisdom and abilities, will keep the peace, maintain progress, and otherwise safeguard humanity's future. One thousand people are chosen to be founders of great Families. The members of the Families aren't like the rest of humanity. Genetically enhanced and each generation continually improved, they are the carriers of Earth's greatest talents. Lawmakers, scientists, explorers, terraformers - they become a force unlike any in the history of mankind.
For ten million years, the Families dominate the galaxy - but then Alice, a brilliant scientist of the Chamberlain Family, takes part in an experimental attempt to create a new galaxy. The experiment goes out of control, unleashing vast energies that destroy countless worlds, killing untold billions of people.
Before she is punished for her role in the debacle, Alice, who is millennia old, visits a much younger member of the Chamberlains, Ord, who is just coming into his powers. Only he, of all the people in the galaxy, knows what Alice tells him, but her words launch him on a quest that will take him across the vast reaches of space. He must discover his own true nature and somehow restore the family honor. This is his epic story.
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