The acclaimed author of Venus takes readers on a voyage into Jupiter's strange and terrifying atmosphere in this "unique and enticing" hard sci-fi novel (Publishers Weekly).

Grant Archer only wanted to study astrophysics. But the forces of the "New Morality," the coalition of censorious do-gooders who run twenty-first-century America, have other plans for him. Torn away from his young bride, Grant is sent to a research station orbiting Jupiter, tasked with spying on his fellow scientists. Their work may lead to the discovery of higher life forms in the Jovian system—with implications the New Morality doesn't like at all.

What Grant's would-be controllers don't know is that his loyalty to science may be greater than his desire for a quiet life. But that loyalty will be tested on a dangerous mission to the middle reaches of Jupiter's atmosphere. In a place where liquid hydrogen flows freely and planet-sized cyclones rage, something even more horrifying is about to be discovered . . .