The book is set on the planet Tenebra, a planet of the star Altair and a world with thick atmosphere, a shifting crust, crushingly-strong gravity and surface temperatures of just over 374 degrees Celsius, close to the critical point of water.
Close Encounters of the Third Kind | Chuck Close | Glenn Close | Del Close | Critical Software | The Critical Hour | Critical Review | Critical Art Ensemble | Close Up | Feel So Close | critical pedagogy | Critical care medicine | Up Close & Personal | Too Close for Comfort | Ivy Close | Dangerously Close | critical period | Critical Commons | Critical Buddhism | Connotations: A Journal for Critical Debate | Close quarters combat | Close | Chris McKay & the Critical Darlings | Area of Critical Environmental Concern | Stay (Faraway, So Close!) | Society of Critical Care Medicine | Ray Close's | Quantum Critical Point | Quantum critical point | Prompt critical |
When he learns that the stations that power the Sky-Island's anti-gravitational beams are close to critical, Plat convinces Shah Guido G. to order in a division of Waves (female shock-troops whose name derives from the WAVES of the United States Navy) to put down a supposed rebellion by the technicians.