BuSub and his best agent McKay are faced with another problem, which quickly grows from a minor one into a question of the survival of not only humanity, but the entire Universe. The union of a spoiled multi-billionaire and a surgically altered alien of the Pan Speci race set out to destroy the very foundation of the universe - unique creatures called beachballs. These creatures are so alien to all other races that it is extremely difficult to establish even the simplest mutual understanding between them and other intelligent races. They think in abstractions that are inaccessible to us (such as “connective tissue”) and, at the same time, such completely real and concrete things for us as pain and matter are difficult for them to perceive.