Arthur Clarke's best novel, in which he predicts the distant future of humanity. People have always built cities, but never before have they created one like this one - Diaspar. For millennia, its protective dome shielded the city from the encroaching decay and dangers of the outside world. Once he even restrained the forces that control the stars. It was then, according to legend, that the Invaders drove the remnants of humanity into this last impregnable refuge. And now there is only one unique person who is able to break out of the suffocating comfort of Diaspar, abandon the legends and discover the true nature of the Invaders.