In the middle of the desert, a young girl escapes the militants tracking her thanks to her special relationship with the Iums, the pretty little creatures somewhere between a seal and a penguin who, lord knows why, have taken it into their head to protect her. Leilah Nakad is extremely interested in the Iums, and discreetly studies their habits and customs. But Leilah is plagued by a terrible remorse. Seven years earlier, she was in command of a vessel transporting three thousand young people to come and live on Betelgeuse, but that missed its mark still continues its intergallactic orbit today. All the passengers of the Konstantin Tsiolkowski froze to death in their hibernation chambers. All but two: Hector Albornoz and Inge de Vries. They are still alive, but abandoned, and without hope of ever returning from that flying tombstone. Meanwhile, on Aldebaran, Driss and Alexa are organising and expedition with the aim of discovering the kind of problem that the Betelgeuse mission could have run into. With captivating adventures and a superb setting, this series, half sci-fi and half fantasy that kept us on the edge of our seats for 5 albums opens with a promising new cycle.