On the planet called Hyperion, beyond the law and the reach of 28th-century science, waits the creature called the Shrike. Some worship it, some fear it, and some have vowed to destroy it. On the eve of Armageddon, with the entire galaxy at war, seven pilgrims set forth on a final voyage to the Valley of the Time Tombs, where the Shrike waits for them. They seek the answers to the unsolved riddles of their lives and have resolved to die before discovering anything less than the secrets of the universe itself.