What drives fate, what forces control the world and determine the course of events? This question worries not only humanity, which is gradually settling throughout the galaxy; the Kothas, representatives of a race that has absolute power within the material world, are also looking for an answer to it. In ancient times, they resettled part of the population from Earth to another planet, wanting to direct it along the “optimal” path of development, but people followed the usual path of wars, intrigues and social cataclysms. A terrorist sect professing Manichaeism, a doctrine that recognizes the entire material world as the creation of the devil and sets itself the goal of its complete destruction, has become interested in the militant inhabitants of the resource-rich planet. The threat of extermination hangs over all of humanity. And a dilemma arises: either to destroy the dangerous planet, or to give people a chance to cope with the threat themselves...