Sometime in the not-too-distant future ... unbeknownst to Earth, the
Galaxy is home to a number of spacefaring societies. This confederation
enforces a strict protocol forbidding any contact with civilizations
that have not yet achieved both a substantial spacefaring capability and
sufficient maturity to control the technology explosion before
triggering their own extinction.
While this policy is intended to only bring in peaceful new members,
matters change entirely when the confederation is threatened by some
unknown entity - is the menace real or imagined? The confederation
decides to break with the rules and sends a delegate to Earth to hire
one of the supposedly belligerent Earthlings to investigate and to
revive the confederation's long-unused starfleet. The Earthman agrees,
but demands a high price: should he succeed, the confederation will have
to accept Earth as a new member. As the threat becomes ever more acute,
the question soon becomes which mission will prove harder - saving the
confederation or convincing it to accept the deal!
The extensive appendix, written in non-technical language, reviews the
scientific and technological topics underlying the plot - ranging from
the Fermi paradox, space travel and artificial/collective intelligence
to theories on possible universal convergences in technological and
biological development.