The Amortals is the first book of the Gathering Storm Arc and the tenth overall book in the Compact Universe series.
After his ordeal locating the missing Etrusca Explorer (but not its cargo of tactical nuclear weapons), Douglas Best has become the junior delegate to the Compact Assembly for Jefivah. To his surprised, the mysterious Luxhomme, now going by the name Marcus Leitman, is the junior delegate for Earth.
Best is contacted by the High Normaj Jayne, the senior-most Marilynist cleric on Earth. She tells Best and his wife Carolyn of a plot that centers around permanent rejuvenation. Jayne proves a pragmatic ally who stages the couple’s “induction” into the Marilynist Temple,. The three then proceed to follow a trail from a university in Antarctica to Gohem, the homeworld of the Neanderthal-descended Orags, and all the way to Thule, the distant core world above the galactic plane.
But someone doesn’t want them to find the truth. And they will resort to mass murder to stop the human race from having the secret to amortality.
Editor’s note: “Amortal” and “amortality” refers to having an indefinite lifespan. The author first saw the term in the book Sapiens, though Dr. Yuveh Noah Harari did not coin the term. It is used to differentiate from immortality, which is the inability to die. Amortals, by definition, can be killed by disease, accident, or violence, but will not age or die of old age. i
Preceded by: Second Wave
Followed by: The Exile