The Descent into the Maelstrom (The Phantom of the Earth #4)

TWO TRANSHUMAN BABIES WILL GROW INTO ADULTS ...
FASTER THAN THE MOON ORBITS THE EARTH ...
AND INFLUENCE HUMANITY'S FATE.

In the Great Commonwealth of Beimeni, a subterranean civilization in North America, expansion long ago gave way to peace and prosperity in the face of the history's most devastating plague. Immortality is the reward for service and loyalty in Beimeni, a place where the physical blends with the metaphysical and power consolidates in the hands of those with a genetic edge. The fissures first spread slowly, then swiftly, until now the Great Commonwealth finds itself on the brink of economic devastation, challenged by forces from within that know its secrets and its crimes. At the center of the conflict lie the Selendias of Piscator, founders of the resistance with an uncanny connection to the zeropoint field, and the Barão Strike Team, three researchers tasked with finding a cure to the Reassortment Strain, the plague that nearly wiped transhumankind from the Earth. Traveling from the uninhabitable but pristine surface to the habitable but inhospitable underground, this is a story about dedication to dreams, battle for survival, discovery and connection, song and celebration, undoing past misdeeds, and sacrifice for the greater good.

In THE DESCENT INTO THE MAELSTROM, newborns Oriana and Pasha Barão are developed in preparation for the Harpoons, while Champion Gwendolyn Horvearth campaigns for Antosha Zereoue's bid to oversee Project Reassortment. Meanwhile, Jeremiah Selendia teaches his youngest son, Connor, more about his heritage and telepathic abilities, and a renewed accord leads the Beimeni Polemon to a city long forgotten. Will Oriana and Pasha earn a bid during the Harpoon Auction? Is Connor ready to confront the Liberation Front's deadliest foe? Can Gwen accept her new role at Antosha's side? The young grow up fast in Beimeni, and this new generation's choices will shape the fate of transhumankind.