In the Clockwork Universe, a world of airships and uneasy alliances, one man struggles to escape an unchanging world.

His father punished him, his mother never understood him, and The Society of New Alchemists rejected him. Twice.

Janus wants more than anything to escape to another world where technology is celebrated, not suppressed, so he invented a machine to do just that. But the Emperor believes technology is ruining the peaceful utopia of the United American Empire and has ordered all new technology destroyed. Ignoring these orders is punishable by death.

That makes Janus the enemy. War rages between the Emperor's forces and those who want progress, but Janus stays safe in the shadows, hiding behind a vast network of cloned spies who carry out his attacks. But even his steam-powered soldiers and other inventions have little effect, and his actions fall on deaf ears.

Unable to overthrow the Emperor's iron grip and release the Empire from its self-imposed dark age, Janus' only recourse is to find a world that appreciates him. To do that, he needs to finish his machine. Unfortunately, the only way to do that is to confront the Emperor himself.

If he fails, he risks death. But, worse, he will be trapped in a decaying world.

A stranger in a strange land might just hold the key to saving everything.