The quiet war is over. The city-states of Jupiter and Saturn fell to the Alliance of Three Powers: Greater Brazil, the European Union and the Pacific Community. The age of enlightenment, rational utopia, exploration of new images of humanity was replaced by a time of darkness. The distant ones are driven into prison camps, forced to assist in the systematic plunder of their vast archives of scientific and technical knowledge. Meanwhile, the earthlings are plundering captured cities, farms and ships and preparing the “final solution” to the problem of the distant ones. But the victory of the earthlings is only self-deception. The earth is torn apart by political contradictions. Traveling in search of strange gardens scattered across the solar system by the greatest genius of the distant ones, Avernus, genetic scientist Sri Hon-Owen finds herself involved in the complex intrigues of the clan that hired her. Diplomat Lok Ifrahim discovers that turning victory into profit is not so easy. And in Greater Brazil, the democratic traditions of the Distants are spreading among the population who want to overthrow the tyranny of the powerful clans that have divided the country. Although the war put an end to the attempts of expansion of the Distants, with their experiments in creating superhumans, the future did not become less foggy and threatening. Only one thing is clear: no one can escape the consequences of war, especially the victors.