In the long dark age that followed, the High Inquest would be remembered as a golden age. For the Inquestors had harnessed the unfathomable power of the heart of stars, sailing the overcosm in their delphinoid ships and tachyon bubbles to dance on the faces of suns. But the Inquest had its darker side as well. For these beings played a ruthless game with billions of lives, snuffing out worlds as chessplayers take pawns. Waging an unending war on the false utopias that tempt mankind, they sought to free humanity by enslaving it. At last, after countless centuries, the Inquest was torn apart. This is the story of the fall of that great empire, and of the rebel Inquestor who hastened its end.