Beneath
a sky of ice, three worlds collide.

On the planet Ilmatar, under a roof of ice a
kilometer thick, a team of deep-sea diving scientists investigates the blind
alien race that lives below. The Terran explorers have made an uneasy truce
with the Sholen, their first extraterrestrial contact: so long as they don't
disturb the Ilmataran habitat, they're free to conduct their missions in peace.

But when Henri Kerlerec, media personality and
reckless adventurer, ends up sliced open by curious Ilmatarans, tensions
between Terran and Sholen erupt, leading to a diplomatic disaster that
threatens to escalate to war.

Against the backdrop of deep-sea guerrilla conflict,
a new age of human exploration begins as alien cultures collide. Both sides
seek the aid of the newly enlightened Ilmatarans. But what this struggle means
for the natives—and the future of human exploration—is anything but certain.