The latest (posthumous) novel by one of the most brilliant science fiction writers, Arthur C. Clarke, written in collaboration with another great master of the genre, Frederik Pohl, addresses a world in which three great powers, United States, China and Europe find themselves doomed to a struggle for supremacy despite their desire to reach a peace. The most dangerous threat, however, comes unexpectedly from abroad, and the secret investigations carried out in search of a definitive weapon must then reorient themselves in the face of this external aggression, which may be the only thing capable of uniting them in a common project. Through the story of a young astronomer and mathematician obsessed with a theorem that seems to hold the secrets of the universe, Clarke and Pohl develop a shocking and compelling vision of what the future holds for humanity.