At 05:00 on 25 August 2110, Counselor Mishima leads the 8 members of Group Green to the tau-field area of L’Auberge du Portail, just outside Lyon in France. On arrival in Exile, Group Green discovers that the Pliocene Earth is under the control of a dimorphic alien race: the Tanu and the Firvulag.

Group Green comprises:

• Elizabeth Orme: a former Grandmaster farsensor, redactor and instructor.

• Aiken Drum: a young ne’er-do-well and trickster.

• Felice Landry: a young woman with apparently incredible but violent athletic abilities.

• Richard Voorhees: an ex-space freighter captain.

• Bryan Grenfell: a cultural anthropologist.

• Stein Oleson: a former planet crust driller, part of the Lisboa power grid repair crew.

• Claude Majewski: a retired exopaleontologist.

• Anna-Maria (Amerie) Roccaro: a former nurse assisting end-of-life patients