Book excerpt: Earth is on the verge of becoming a dead planet. The polar ice caps melted long ago, and it's been decades since the last raindrop fell. Ocean levels rise a dozen meters, and forest fires rage on a global scale. Eleven billion people dying of thirst wage water wars against each other as extinction looms. Humanity needs a new planet. As Earth deteriorates, the nation states desperately work together to build a mechanism for recolonization. And so the Magellan II is born, the first starship capable of interstellar travel. The future of the human race is tasked to ten thousand colonists-now homeless but for the vastness of space and the decks of Magellan II. A distant planet offers hope of survival, but it's a strange, watery world inhabited by giant reptiles. Humanity is starting over, but survival isn't guaranteed.