They came to decadent America, tottering toward insurrection: The Zebonites, beings from a distant star had promised astounding medical and scientific advances in exchange for allowing them to set up a military stronghold in Florida's Everglades. Excited by their promises humanity's advancementof, Joe Tanner applied for and was hired for the contact team, a small group of individuals who could gain access to and lead other into the Zebonite's stronghold. But the Zebonites kept themselves shrouded in mystery, not revealing their natures, communicating only through the Zugs, mutated servants, and robotic bugs. Soon the world learned that the alliance had not been a request, but an ultimatum. The Zebonites, moreover, the treated human beings with contempt, considering themselves superior. They sought to instill dread by torturing, killing, and, if necessary, destroying the minds of those who oppose them...