From an alien world six thousand light-years away, a message arrived: The Hydra will awaken.

No one knew what it meant or what the Hydra was. Earth sent ships anyway. Human embryos were part of the cargo.

Mikey was born on Elysium, raised by android parents like every child in the colony, and spent his entire life preparing for one thing: first contact with the Elysians.

When Mikey and Liz finally make first contact, they begin to unravel the mysteries. Behind the aliens is a being that exists in a different dimension. One that has watched humanity for millennia and grown ravenous for what it has never been able to feel.

The universe has a god. She built love into everything. She has never experienced it herself.

Mikey and Liz are eighteen years old. What happens next depends on whether a god can be reasoned with and whether two teenagers are enough.