A work on the theme of the Golden Billion. A story about the world order, the features of which are already emerging today. In the near future, the planet is overtaken by a global catastrophe. The surviving humanity is divided into two castes. One of them is savages fighting for life in post-apocalyptic devastation. The other is the powerful Chosen, the descendants of those who brought down the old world in order to become the sovereign masters of the new. They are almost immortal - digitized consciousness is easily transferred to new bodies. Their beautiful cities of refuge are practically impregnable. They exterminate those they consider two-legged animals. But the cruel society of superhumans has given birth to a Renegade who chooses the other side, and he is not alone. Now next to him is the one who managed to survive in a dying world. A man with unusual abilities and an ineradicable thirst for life. The unequal struggle begins...