For more than twelve thousand years, the Hungarian Empire ruled the entire galaxy, millions of manned planets from the heart of the capital, Tranner, to the vicinity of the external galaxy. One scientist named Harry Sildon uses psychological history to predict the future, to see the dying of the Hungarian Empire, and eras of darkness, barbarism and ignorance that will continue for thirty thousand years in the wake of the collapse of the empire. To preserve human sciences and reduce the period of barbarism for only a thousand years, Harry Sildon collects the finest minds of the galaxy to establish a base on a disbelieving planet at the end of the distant galaxy, Terminus. Soon the base finds itself surrounded by enemies greater than its ability to confront, the kingdoms of barbarism that have split from the Hungarian Empire, and behind them the dangers and crises threatening the base and the plan of Harry Sildon for the future of humanity.