In 2046, mankind struck out into space. It was not the thrill of adventure that drove them, nor the quest for new horizons. It was fear. Satellites and space stations were rafted together to form the foundations of Orbit 1 and first governments, then the rich, then anyone there was room for boarded shuttles and moved off the surface. The surface was no longer safe.

Something had been disturbed. Something which had lain aslumber for countless aeons, dreaming in the deep. People began to go missing at first, and then it was towns – gaping holes rent in the earth where once had been streets and buildings. It was clear, before long, that this was no natural phenomena. Things were burrowing, beneath the soil, tearing through rock like water. They could not be tracked, and so could not be fought. More towns disappeared, then cities. Mankind turned, in terror, and fled.