The Skellig is a woman. Most of the time. On the black of the moon she's another creature altogether. Insectoid. A deal she made, with the soul of earth known as the Grace, a few thousand years ago. Sometimes, over a couple of days, she's a bit of both. A desperate escape north is the only hope for thousands of runaways. Guided by an indigenous and immortal starman, the shape-shifting skellig, a Maori mystic named Mukata and Terrence, a scientist who should be the enemy but is not, make the journey. Bull and Rattlesnake Lil drive the silver bullet called the Midnight Express, packed to the rafters with escapees and hybrids. Alice, in his armored all-terrain, raises his rainbow pennant on a fifteen foot high middle-finger to the drone swarms overhead. A militarised force not