The novel is set in 2178 AD (approximately 20 years after the events of Prisoners of Power) and follows the story of the main character of the first novel, Maxim Kammerer.

Among other materials, he finds a sheet of paper with a strange symbol resembling the Cyrillic letter Ж or Japanese character 卅 (san juu) which only adds to his confusion.

However, the one who comes to the Museum tonight is not Lev Abalkin but rather Isaac Bromberg, Sikorski's fiercest opponent in his policy about knowledge and its classification.

Apparently, Abalkin has called Bromberg via videophone and talked to him about the "detonators", an artifact stored in the closed section of the MEC where Sikorski and Kammerer had laid their trap.

Abalkin's symbol was the one resembling the Japanese character 卅 Upon returning to his COMCON-2 office with Maxim, Sikorski admits that he always believed that all "foundlings" carried a program deep in their subconsciousness that was potentially dangerous for Earth.

Kammerer likens the situation to when a human might put a "beetle in an anthill" simply to watch the alarmed reaction of the ants.

Abalkin enters the Museum of Extraterrestrial Cultures, and is shot three times by Sikorski and dies on the floor millimeters from his "detonator".