It all started when the newspapers raised yet another uproar about aliens. Very soon it became known what you could get from the aliens: health. They healed almost any sick person that doctors had already given up on. A person signed a contract for a term from three to ten years—rarely longer, depending on the severity of the illness. They were required to work for an unknown purpose in an unknown place for the entire duration. A breach of contract ahead of time wasn’t provided for. Those who returned remembered nothing and couldn’t tell anything—and not everyone returned. The question of whether to save his mother from death or not sign the contract never even arose for Alexey.