"For something to die it must first have been alive. That final, terminal event makes everything that came before it possible. Whether you call it an act of destruction or creation just depends on your point-of-view."

Some people are a problem. From habitual criminals to deposed political opponents - why can't they all just disappear?

The East African country of Kubaya has the solution. They will take unwanted people. They know how to dispose of them quietly. Without any fuss. No containment camps or mass graves. No embarrassing discoveries by interfering busy-bodies. They will simply... vanish.

But then some traces do start turning up. When archaeologist Samantha Ecclestone finds a modern human skull that’s one million years old, she can't explain it. But Vincent Hugo, the special investigator from the Patrium, thinks he can. He's seen it before. Holes in Time connecting the present to the distant past. His job is to find Time Holes and close them. So Sam and Hugo head for Kubaya

The Kubayan government won't like that. Nosy people can be a problem. But they know what to do with problem people.