An arcology in the Empire has been destroyed, estimated casualties 18 million. Osh Scimtar, an Imperial Secundus, has the opportunity to follow the saboteur's escape route if he goes immediately. He arrives at a technological but primitive world, just beginning the climb the Empire has already made, populated by humans whose ancestors must have been from the Empire. He meets a young woman who helps him learn what he needs to know to complete his mission on this unknown world with no knowledge of or contact with the Empire. A world known to its inhabitants as Earth