Having arrived at the Progressor Alien Station, Alexey agrees to cooperate and becomes a subspacer. He takes up with interest the investigation entrusted to him on the planet Zeya. Unwinding the case together with the alien Lou Emo, they lift the veil of secrecy over the activities of the mysterious and cruel collectors of souls - the collectors. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg. On Earth, faced with several super-powerful space civilizations at once, Alexey and Lu have to make a difficult choice and understand that they themselves are far from the last pawns in this galactic game.