Exodus: The Helium Sea

The Crown Dominion has held an uneasy peace for thousands of years. The Celestials rule it, and humans live beneath them as little better than serfs. The peace fails when old exiles return to settle old scores: a faction sent away across the Helium Sea seven thousand years ago.

Finn and his human allies are drawn toward the centre of the conflict. Some choose to go. Others are steered by manipulation they do not see clearly until it is too late to turn back.

The war opens a chance humans have never had. If Finn's allies can keep their alliance intact, they might win real independence within the Crown Dominion, in place of continued subjugation.

The story runs across roughly ten years and follows several missions and factions on separate paths. Each one is steered toward a single convergence. This is the second and final book of the Archimedes Engine duology, so it answers the mysteries the first book raised and tallies what the answers cost.

Whether the alliance survives its own secrets decides whether humans leave servitude behind.