Tarik Connar's friend Sahl'and of the Talik people has disappeared. Together with Scarlett vanDyke, his new companion, and Telios, the homunculus hybrid, a creation of the robot ruler Tart-prio, he sets out on a search. Commander Connar unexpectedly finds himself in the middle of an interplanetary confrontation, which he initially survives only by using his special gift.
Between Connar and the Heleroen it comes to the confrontation. Before this escalates completely, however, a gigantic asteroid ship appears above the planet. Connar arrives on the ship, whose size corresponds to that of a small moon. There he finds out that apparently nobody is on board anymore. What has happened? A time secularization has struck and wiped-out Connar's partner.
