Even before humans escaped from their currently inhospitable home world, humanity had started to direct its own evolution.

Jones grew up learning there were some things one simply didn’t ask in the Midnight Cabaret, such as how a trick really worked, a performer’s home town, and what Uncle Ernie did on his nights off that sometimes brought him home with bloody knuckles…

What few outside the Midnight Cabaret realize is that nearly everyone in the show is a war refugee from some faraway magical realm, worlds overrun by evil. Despite leaving their conquered homes and taking human form, the enemies of these survivors sometimes send minions after them; perhaps to thwart future reprisals; perhaps to finish the job. The performers always look for signs of incursions by their old enemies as they travel around the troupe’s new home.

…his timely intervention and fast talking bought enough time for a Canadian crew to escape a band of smugglers whom they’d witnessed at work. They didn’t forget that, and their next time in port, offered him a paying job onboard the Ice Princess…