They didn't expect to find life on the volcanic wastelands of Venus-they were dead wrong.

In the near future, the Space Intelligence Corporation (SIC) has finally conquered the technology to explore the stars. Middle-aged widower and space archeologist Marshall Wilson becomes their newest recruit when he is offered a position on SICs highly selective and enigmatic Venus station. His life is finally coming together until he hears the ethereal voice of his late wife calling to him from the planet below.

He and his team-the lawyer with a malicious grin, the supposedly perfect planetary geologist, and the brutish military captain-must descend and weather the planet's surface to uncover its secrets. But a sinister, ancient Venusian race has awoken, and they don't let prisoners live.

Who will make it-and who will succumb to the children of Venus?