ON RELATIVE EARTH DATE 2250, THE VIOLENT ambition of Theron welded the humanoid people of the planet Argolis into a single nation and took them into a war with the reptilian Foamasi. Within 20 minutes, 2,000 interplanetary missiles had wiped out most of the Argolin, leaving the survivors sterile. Argolis’ surface was uninhabitable for over three centuries – a beautiful but deadly spectacle of red, radioactive storms of radon 222 heavy metal dust.