It was an ordinary expedition of those sent at the beginning of the twentieth century to remote areas of Asia. Or - almost ordinary, because the participants do not always know the true goals of the journey. But who knew that beyond the next gorge lies another planet? And even more - the future has arrived there long ago, and there will be no turning back. Who knew that humanity had degenerated, despite the numerous inhabited worlds connected to each other by a whimsical network of subspace tunnels? And where can they find their place - officers, Cossacks, scientists from the distant past? People who are used to doing their duty. Whose side should we take - the outright savages or the civilized barbarians in a possible war? But where the Cossacks are, there is victory!

...The main part of the expedition under my leadership followed along a pre-agreed route. However, we did not find any traces of the avant-garde. Having made sure that no one had passed in front of us, I gave the order to begin searching in the widest area, but they did not yield any results. Local residents did not see any of the outsiders and did not hear anything about them.