Half a million years in the future, on a dead, war-ravaged world at the centre of the Galaxy, there is a mile-high statue of Michael Poole. Poole, born on Earth in the fourth millennium, was one of mankind's most influential heroes.He was not a warrior, not an emperor. He was an engineer, a builder of wormhole transit systems.But Poole's work would ultimately lead to a vast and destructive conflict, a million-year war between humanity and the enigmatic, powerful aliens known as the Xeelee.The Xeelee won, but at a huge cost. And, defeated in a greater war, the Xeelee eventually fled the universe.Most of them. A handful were left behind, equipped with time travel capabilities, their task to tidy up: to reorder history more to the Xeelee's liking.That million-year war with humankind was one blemish.It had to be erased. And in order to do that, a lone Xeelee was sent back in time to remove Michael Poole from history . . .