Konstantin Kratov, a young graduate of the Star Exploration school, did not expect that on his very first independent mission he would be drawn into events on a cosmic scale. During an extralight transition, some unimaginable creature attacks his ship. Was the target a rationogen secretly being transported—a device that multiplies intellectual activity many times—or was it simply a coincidence of circumstances? Either way, from that moment on, Kratov becomes the bearer of a fragment of a "long message," which is not yet possible to decipher. In addition, he serves as a kind of pointer to the dangerous development of events that is yet to come. And on top of everything, his career as a Star Explorer is cut off in the harshest way—on the planet Psamma, after a forced shootout with an alien mind. Taking responsibility for the incident on himself, Kratov sets off into voluntary exile.