Once on the progressive Alien Station, Alexey agrees to cooperate and becomes a sub-spacer. He takes up with interest the investigation entrusted to him on the planet Zeya. Spinning the case together with the alien Lou Emo, they open the veil of secrecy over the activities of mysterious and cruel soul collectors - collectors. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg. On Earth, faced with several super-powerful space civilizations at once, Alexei and Lou will have to make a difficult choice and understand that they themselves are far from the last pawns in this galactic game.