The Earth - all her history, all her life - never existed. The Clan, the evil time thieves of the universe, sucked the time energy out of our home world. That which never was can never again be. Obviously. Well unless, of course, there's a Jon Ryan out there! Jon and Sapale must work with their new crew, two human academics spared humankind's foul fate, along with their captured alien time ship. But is their mission doomed to fail even before it starts? How can they resurrect something that never was? They don't even know if it can be done - how it could be done. And what about the Clan? They have hundreds of ships hunting down Jon and his team. They are hell-bent on destroying the only enemy who has ever bloodied them. A vengeful Clan is a supremely dangerous foe. There is no hope for Earth's revival if the Clan cannot be eliminated. But how can one ship, crewed by rookies, stand against an eternally triumphant armada?Tensions mount and confrontations abound as the last few hundred survivors of Earth are forced to live and fight together on the last island of our species - Aramthella, the quirky and cantankerous alien time ship. Jon Ryan has saved the universe before. He's faced long odds and defied them. But on this occasion - against this enemy - there's a unique and indomitable factor. If you make one mistake, one minor misstep ... you never existed. Jon may have returned form the dead, but it's not possible for him to return from nonexistence. No one can.