For eight years now, the Earth has been a colony of the Inceks, a powerful alien civilization. But the truth revealed to Maxim Vorontsov is even harder - the Earth has never been free. Now he is forced to leave his home planet and hide among the Changed, former people who have become soldiers of the Inces. He needs to understand why the Inces wage endless wars with the Formers. Find out what the Meanings are, which they collect as tribute from the captured planets. And find an opportunity to rid the Earth of eternal slavery - because only in this way can he return his love. But how cruel this path is! And what if the cure turns out to be more dangerous than the disease?