For a thousand years there was a galactic empire of people - but dilapidated and crumbled. How to unite tens of thousands of inhabited worlds again? The most realistic and painless way is to remember the principles of building a financial pyramid. Recruiters scurry around the Galaxy, promising prosperity to the worlds. The backward planet Zyab joined the pyramid. Now she needs to find five inhabited worlds for the role of financial vassals. A strange team is sent into space for recruitment: a farmer, a street child, a swindler and a pop diva...