[citation needed] Pel lives with his German girlfriend Ursula and their two children, and works in the IT department of a university library (or "Learning Centre").

The story begins with Pel receiving an odd call from his boss, TSR, who quizzes him about extradition treaties; within a week he has vanished without a trace, and Pel is promoted to TSR's former position, "Computer Team Administration, Software Acquisition and Training Manager" (though, in addition to his own job).

At work, Pel finds that taking on TSR's job involves more than it seemed at first; he has to pay off student recruiters from the Pacific Ring, who happen to be members of The Triads; he has to take care of the details of the building of a new Learning Centre building, which involves hiding the fact that skeletons from an ancient burial ground have been illegally dumped from the site, and a dangerous neurotoxin to be buried under it.

Within two weeks the author had received offers from two publishers, and set about writing the book; in the meantime, however, he became embroiled in a legal argument when The Mail on Sunday printed, without permission, segments from the website.

Millington received a call from an editor at the Mail on Sunday, who offered him £800 for permission to run excerpts from the website as an article.