History is a weapon, and Taukudo—an historian traveling between solar systems aboard an interstellar trade ship—is about to discover its power.

A drain on the ship’s bottom line, Taukudo dreams of a way to convince the rest of the crew of the value of history—and thus validate his presence aboard. As the ship approaches the planet Khronica, he believes he has his chance.

Khronica is home to his teacher—a brilliant historian who has just completed a work of genius: a complete synthesis of human history. Taukudo will be the work’s first evangelist and convert the crew to his belief in history’s worth.

But when the ship arrives, Taukudo sees that something has gone wrong. Khronica is a wasteland. Civilization has collapsed. So Taukudo descends to the surface to determine what happened. But he only has three days to do so—as the ship slingshots through the system—or he will be left on the ruined world forever.

Taukudo knows something of his teacher has survived. He descends to the planet, intent on finding the value of history, unsuspecting that its value may be more malignant than he imagines