Life on Earth is good. Disease is checked, hunger ended, and war and
suffering abolished, with liberty and justice and a high standard of
living for all. But Paul Formain, a strangely gifted young engineer,
doesn't believe a word of it. So he comes to Walter Blunt's Chantry
Guild, whose motto is "Destruct!" and whose stated goal is the end of
civilization. There are Alternate Laws at work in the world, says the
Chantry Guild; Walter Blunt has pledged his life to them, and to the
principle of destruction as a positive force. After centuries of hope
and progress, and the triumph of science, something strange is happening
to mankind. And whatever it is, it's going to be big.