Dark prophecies have been fulfilled! Earth, Cradle of Humanity , Suffers from overpopulation, and its inhabitants are forced to spend their entire lives in the steel caves of giant cities not seeing sunlight and eating yeast crops, while cosmonites, Descendants of the Earth, Other Planets , Enjoy all the pleasures of being . The outer worlds are far superior to the mother planet in their military and economic power, and therefore the murder of Cosmonite representative Dr. Sarton on Earth may serve as a pretext for the beginning of a great war. The investigation of this crime is entrusted to the New York police officer Elijah Bailey, and his partner on the part of the cosmonites is a very unusual detective named R. Daniel Olivo . “R” means robot.