This is a recap of the novels The Stars Are Cold Toys and Star Shadow.
Pyotr Khrumov is a Russian shuttle pilot working for Transaero Airlines (all space travel is done by airlines). After lifting off from a planet in the Sirius System, he is forced to make an emergency jump by the arrival of a cruiser belonging to the rat-like Alari, a Weak Race that serves as the Conclave's military and enforcers. After the jump, Pyotr finds a small reptilian in a cabinet, a Counter. The Counters are a race of living computers used by the Conclave in lieu of AI, which is forbidden. Pyotr is shocked that an alien has survived the jump and threatens to destroy the shuttle in order to hide this from everyone else. But the Counter, who chooses the human name Karel for itself, tells Pyotr that he's been sent on an important mission and will only speak with Pyotr's grandfather Andrey Khrumov, a well-known xenophobe and anti-alien demagogue. Pyotr makes the second jump to the Solar System, but he miscalculates and ends up near Saturn, too far for the shuttle to make it back to Earth. So he's forced to make two more jumps, this time allowing Karel to help with calculations. Using his ability to interface with machines, Karel also alters the onboard flight recorder to make it seem as if a bored Pyotr is talking to himself. As Pyotr is landing, he learns that his trajectory is all wrong and he won't make it to a spaceport. He realizes that Karel deliberately did that in order to avoid spaceport security. Flight control talks Pyotr through landing on a road, even though it's a million to one shot. Pyotr manages to land, partly thanks to a bus full of tomatoes that slips through a military cordon. The bus allows the shuttle to slow down enough for Pyotr to survive. He exits the shuttle to speak with the bus driver. When the Russian military finally arrives, Pyotr meets Colonel Danilov, Transaero's best pilot (and part-owner). Danilov also turns out to know Pyotr's grandfather. Pyotr suddenly remembers Karel and realizes the Counter temporarily made him forget about the alien, so that Karel could slip out undetected. Pyotr flies home and is taken to his grandfather's home, where he grew up after his parents died in a plane crash. Andrey Khrumov has already guessed that something is amiss and asks Pyotr to tell him exactly what happened. Pyotr realizes that the Alari cruiser was in on it, as its untimely arrival prevented him from conducting a pre-jump inspection of the shuttle and making a proper jump calculation, thus forcing him to rely on Karel's help. The next morning, Andrey contacts someone named Masha who he claims works for him. He meets Masha a few hours later and learns she's been developing means of detecting and fighting aliens, including a one-shot paralyzer gun. Karel manages to slip by all of Masha's sensors but is caught by Andrey's dog, who brings the little alien inside. Karel survives and tells the humans that he's a part of a conspiracy between factions within the Counters, Alari, and Kualkua (a race of shapeshifters used as translators and missile guidance systems by the Conclave). They hope to recruit humans in order to change the balance of power within the Conclave. But to do that they need to go off-world. Since Pyotr is the only one they have with access to a space shuttle, they want his help to steal one. Pyotr remembers Danilov inviting him to join the crew of his own Buran-class shuttle Volkhv, so his grandfather invites Danilov over. Danilov comes and learns of Karel and of what they're planning. He decides to go along with their plan, and they plan on how to get rid of the shuttle's jump navigator and how to sneak Andrey, Masha, and Karel aboard through the heavy security. Afterwards, Andrey wants Pyotr to burn their family albums. Pyotr finds a newspaper article related to his parents' crash and keeps it. On the flight to the spaceport, he decides to read it and is shocked to learn that not only did his parents died in the crash, but so did the 2-year-old Pyotr Khrumov. He realizes that he's not the real Pyotr, merely an orphan Andrey adopted and raised as his own grandson. On the day of the shuttle launch, Danilov goes for a jog with his jump navigator and manages to skilfully break his leg so that the jump navigator thinks he merely tripped and fell. Pyotr then suggests that he act as both the co-pilot and the jump navigator, since he has that qualification. With the launch window closing, the general in charge of the spaceport agrees. Andrey and Masha arrive seemingly to visit Pyotr and watch the launch. However, instead of sending them to an observation room, Danilov has a subordinate drive them to the launch pad. Pyotr and Danilov manage to get the others inside the shuttle. During the launch, however, the spaceport personnel gets suspicious, as they can't find where Andrey and Masha are. The general is about to abort the launch when Karel reprograms the onboard computer to ignore ground control commands, making it look like a malfunction. When they reach low orbit, they are targetted by an orbital defense satellite, and Danilov admits that the two missing people are on board. Desperate, they decide to initiate the jump from low orbit, which is strictly forbidden as it will likely cause huricanes on the planet below.
After the jump, Pyotr confronts Andrey about the lies. He points out that he's grateful for Andrey raising him and doesn't care that they're not blood relatives but doesn't understand the need for subterfuge. Eventually, they make up.
Once they're safely away, Karel reveals to them that an Alari fleet encountered a single small ship of an unknown race that proceeded to gut the fleet before it was captured. The only person aboard was someone who looked human. In fact, according to Karel, genetically he was human. When he attempted to leave his ship in the Alari flagship's hangar, he was swarmed and killed by the rat-like aliens. This encounter represents an opportunity for the Weak Races and a threat to humanity, as the Conclave will undoubtedly destroy Earth for fear of an alliance with this unknown race once the Strong Races learn of the encounter (a matter of weeks). Karel demonstrates a recording he extracted from the alien ship's computer, which shows an entire star system being transported to this part of space, a technology far beyond what even the Strong Races are capable of. The image of the humanoid's homeworld shows continents that have been molded into perfect geometric shapes like triangles and circles. For lack of a better name, they decide to call the humanoids Geometers. Karel plots a series of jumps to the Alari fleet. After they are brought aboard the massive Alari flagship, they are approached by the fleet's commander, who wears a Kualkua symbiote to translate his speech. He then approaches Pyotr and has the symbiote split. The new symbiote melds with Pyotr. Pyotr freaks out and angrily accuses Andrey of treating him like a tool.
The narrative then shifts to another man, apparently the Geometer pilot, who seems to have survived or been healed. He has no memory of who he is and how he got there. He appears to be a prisoner of the Alari. He manages to break out and happens upon the visiting humans of Earth, who give him clothes and a weapon. The pilot manages to break through to his ship. The ship's computer informs him that his name is Nik Rimer. While the scout ship is technically unarmed, it does have a number of tools that can be easily used as weapons, including powerful laser cutters and seismic probes (basically nuclear missiles). The ship breaks out of the flagship and jumps away to Homeland, the Geometer homeworld. They arrive, and Nik is greeted by an elderly man who says his name is Per and that he was Nik's Mentor. Nik also meets three people his own age: Tag, Gan, and Katty. Tag and Gan (brothers) are his best friends, and Katty is his fiancée. Unfortunately, he doesn't remember any of them. Gan takes the ship to be examined and dismantled, since it was in alien hands. The others take Nik to Tag's lab to be examined to both see what's wrong with his memories and to make sure he's really Nik. They determine that there's no trace of Nik's former memories, possibly wiped out by an Alari mind scan. Tag takes Nik to his apartment, where Nik picks up a book that talks about Homeland's history. It talks about the sky being full of stars, making it so bright that nights were never really dark, making Nik realize that Homeland used to be much closer to the galactic core. He learns that when humans ventured beyond their continent, they found another humanoid race on the other continent. That humanoid race was hostile and made war on them, but the humans wiped it out with an engineered virus. They've regretted that ever since. Some time later, a plague struck the humans, devastating their civilization. They managed to survive thanks to their equivalent to penicillin, and then the Mentors stepped forward to take stewardship of the race. Since then society has been structured around Mentorship, with wise teachers raising children and guiding them on the right path. Strangely enough, Nik keeps finding things wrong with this society and keeps lamenting no longer being right in the head after losing his memories. He learns that, after the invention of space flight, the people of Homeland learned that the other two planets in their system were populated by non-humanoid sentient races, which they call Limber Friends (snakes with a mouth on each end) and Little Friends (small furry creatures). Determined not to repeat the mistakes of the past, they have formed the philosophy of Friendship and began implementing it on their neighbors. This involves sending in covert agents known as regressors in order to reverse the technological progress of the culture in order to make it more willing to accept outside help. They were successful, and now the entire system is joined in a single government.
Mentor Per takes Nik to the World Council to have them determine his fate. They decide to ground him, and Per suggests an alternate career path: Mentorship. They accept but make Per responsible for Nik. Per, Tag, Gan, and Katty take Nik to their boarding school. Nik does indeed show that he might make a good Mentor after interacting with the younger children at the school. But after they go to Per's room and Nik realizes that Per has the ability to spy on each student without their knowledge, he finds it vile and slaps Per. He's immediately confined and watches as the World Council sentences him for striking a Mentor. He's to be sent to a sanatorium, while Per, who is seen as equally guilty, is sent to another boarding school to atone for his faulty teaching. Tag and Gan escort Nik to a transport booth that teleports him to a freezing wasteland. He barely manages to make it to a set of building nearby. He learns that a "sanatorium" is basically a labor camp for those seen as "mentally sick" by the society. Their task is to keep the coastline straight using primitive tools like shovels and pickaxes. They are watched over by Limber Friends, who feel right at home in the freezing temperatures and ice-cold water. Nik befriends an inmate named Agard, who explains that he used to be a historian before being sent here. He also makes an enemy of the barrack chief Clay, a former Mentor, who doesn't appreciate someone raising his hand on a fellow Mentor. Clay attacks Nik, and the stress is enough for him to finally throw off the veil and remember who he really is. He's Pyotr, whose memories were temporarily blocked off by Karel and whose appearance was altered by the Kualkua symbiote to match that of the deceased Nik down to the genetic level. Pyotr uses his military training and the Kualkua enhancing his strength to soundly beat Clay, making himself the new barrack chief. The following morning, he learns that Geometers lace all food and drink with tranquilizers to suppress most sexual desires, except those of the inmates. All the inmates are sent to work the coastline. Suddenly, Clay's boyfriend Tikky runs to the Limber Friends and demands that they take action against "Nik". As soon as he crosses the perimeter, one of the Limber Friends attacks him. Clay runs to help and is attacked by the alien's other mouth. Pyotr runs to them and has the Kualkua engage what it calls "combat transformation", turning his hands into claws and enhancing his strength and endurance. Nik fights the Limber Friend, and the Kualkua shoots a strand of itself to the alien and shuts down its nervous system. But Tikky is already dead, and Clay is dying. In the last moments, Clay realizes that "Nik" isn't who he says he is and asks where he's from before expiring. Before escaping, Pyotr asks Agard why he was imprisoned. Agard explains that he found historical evidence that the same man who developed the cure for the plague also developed the plague in the first place, giving it to the Mentors. The Mentors orchestrated the plague in order to come to power. Agard was imprisoned to silence him. Pyotr flees through the freezing water, fighting off several more Limber Friends using the Kualkua's strands. He eventually makes it to a tower of some kind with greenhouse domes around it. He manages to find a way in through an underground water inlet. He then realizes that it's a boarding school, the same one Per was exiled to. He finds Per's office, and the Mentor invites him in, having been watching him through his surveillance equipment. He has already figured out that Pyotr isn't Nik and wants to know the truth. He suspects that Pyotr is an agent of something called "the Shadow". They talk, and Pyotr tries to tell Per about Earth. However, at some point Per becomes convinced that Pyotr is a Shadow agent and initiates the room's defenses, which solidifies the air around Pyotr, preventing him from moving. The Kualkua sends a strand under the solidified air, which forces Per to stop the defenses. But the old man suffers a stroke and dies. Pyotr has the Kualkua morph his appearance to that of Per, while he himself takes Per's body and buries it in snow outside.
That same day, "Per" is visited by Katty, who wants him to speak on behalf of Nik to get him released. However, she begins to suspect that something is wrong with "Per", especially after Pyotr quotes a poem written by Nik and never shared with anyone but Katty. Pyotr flees through the school's transport booth and ends up on the side of a giant artificial caldera with fire burning below. It turns out to be a crematorium of sorts. Katty manages to track him down and asks who he is. Pyotr has the Kualkua change his appearance first to that of Nik, and then to his own. Katty is horrified and also calls him a Shadow agent. Pyotr takes the transport booth to the nearest spaceport.
He finds himself on a sandy beach and resolves to get back.
The ship arrives to a rogue planet near the galactic core. There are no signs of civilization on the planet, but the ship informs Pyotr that this is the only Shadow planet in its databanks. The ship does detect multiple anomalous areas on the planet with high energy absorption. Pyotr has the ship land near one such area, and everyone walks to it. They see a humanoid female step into the center of one area and disappear. They realize it's some kind of portal or gate. Danilov is against the idea of stepping through, but without Pyotr they're stuck anyway, so they all step inside.
Pyotr finds himself alone on another planet with swamps and jungles. He quickly runs into a man named Snow, who explains that he's a fighter pilot whose plane was shot down by "greenies". Soon another man named Captain Galis arrives on a hovering boat to berate Snow for disobeying orders, before taking Snow and Pyotr back to their base. Pyotr learns that this planet is engaged in a state of cold war with green-skinned people (genetically-modified humans). The greenies are ecologists who believe that the planet should be returned back to its pre-terraformed status and that humans should modify themselves to adapt to the natural environment instead of the other way around. Pyotr learns that the planet was colonized several times over its thousands of years of history and learns of a planet called Earth Prime. Apparently, "Earth" is a very common name for a human colony. Pyotr tries to step through another Gate, but it doesn't seem to work. At the barracks, the Kualkua explains that the Gate didn't just transport them, it first scanned them in a way the Kualkua calls "comprehension". An alert causes Snow and Pyotr to get in their Delta fighters and fly to the frontline between the two factions' territories. The greenies are seeding a mutagen on their side of the border but the wind carries it to the nearby city. Legally, Snow isn't allowed to do anything, so he fakes a navigation malfunction and claims the greenies have crossed the border. He attacks them, forcing Pyotr to back him up. It turns out to have been a trap by the greenies, who spring dozens of fighters on Snow and Pyotr. Pyotr's fighter is too damaged to escape, so Snow unleashes his fighters's heavy weapons, literally flattening everything under him (as in, removing the third dimension). Galis triggers the self-destruct on Snow's fighter and orders Pyotr to get back to base. On the base, Pyotr wants to leave, but Galis tells him that Snow died because of him, so Pyotr will stay and fight in his stead. He learns that Galis is over 300 years old. Galis attacks him, and Pyotr uses the Kualkua's abilities to fight back. Galis reveals that he's a shapeshifter too, turning into a monster and attacking Pyotr. Pyotr manages to trick Galis into taking a bite out of his face, having the Kualkua turn his blood into poison beforehand. Galis dies, while the dying Pyotr stumbles to the Gate.
He wakes up alive on another planet. He goes to the nearby river and walks along it. At night, he encounters a man on a raft. The man, named Kalis, explains that he and his son Dari are coming back from a week-long trip in honor of Dari's birthday. Pyotr tells Kalis some of what happened to him, and Kalis reveals that he used to be a soldier for something called the Crystal Alliance. Kalis invites Pyotr to his home, and Pyotr meets Kalis's wife Rada. The following morning, Pyotr sees that Rada is already up. He tells her the truth about who he is and where he's from. She doesn't seem to be familiar with the Geometers, but then Kalis comes in and asks to speak with Pyotr in private. They go to his office, where Pyotr gives him a more detailed account of his life and adventure. Kalis explains that the way the jumper works has to do with humans unconsciously acting as its navigator. Furthermore, apparently both Earth and Homeland are colonies of humans from the Core. Kalis even suggests that all the Conclave races have originated at the Core and forgot about it. The Shadow is a vast conglomeration of worlds joined by Gates, which scan each person and send them to the planet the best suits their inner desires. It represents the total freedom of choice, as there is likely to be a planet in the Shadow that suits anyone's deeper wishes. Kalis also tells Pyotr that anyone who has ever gone through a Gate is no longer able to die permanently. They will always be reborn in some fashion. He also tells him that he knows of the Geometers, as one of their former agents (who happens to be Nik's childhood friend) now lives on this planet. The Kualkua (which is actually a single hive mind) tells Pyotr that the Strong Races know about the Geometers and will make a decision regarding Earth in a matter of days. Kalis tells him that his only hope is the Trade League, an organization that seeks to create an alternative to the Gates, believing that unconscious freedom of choice is a mistake. Kalis is initially reluctant to go with Pyotr, knowing he will likely not return to his wife and son, but Dari convinces him to go. Kalis takes Pyotr in a flyer to a massive orbiting station, telling him his story along the way. He came from a mercenary world, being trained as a soldier since he was a child to fight other people's wars. He fell in love, and they decided to run away together. They stepped through a Gate, and Kalis found himself alone. In anguish, he stepped through the Gate again and again, but he never found his first love. After many years of searching, he, angry at the Shadow, resolved to destroy it, so he formed the Crystal Alliance, capturing world after world and sealing Gates to prevent people from using them. But it was all for nothing, and the Alliance fell apart.
They arrive to the station and are greeted by a woman whom Pyotr recognizes as Masha. She takes them along a long beam to the station's center. When they arrive, they end up in nature near a forest and a river. Pyotr initially assumes it's a simulation, but then realizes that it's a planet. Kalis explains that every League station has a portal that leads to the League planet. Eventually, the League hopes to unite all Shadow worlds with such portals that will allow travelers to consciously choose their destination instead of using the Gates. Masha takes Pyotr to a house that has been allocated for them. Pyotr goes inside and sees a man who looks like his grandfather, except barely in his forties. Andrey explains that he and Masha ended up on a planet of shapeshifters. When they learned about Andrey's plight, they grew him a new body based on a DNA sample provided by Karel, then Karel downloaded Andrey's mind into the new body. Andrey has been negotiating with a League representative named Cray, trying to convince them to help Earth. However, it seems Earth's only chance for survival is to join the Shadow. Cray tells them that the League doesn't actually help new worlds join the Shadow. That world's representatives have to genuinely want to join the Shadow, at which point a Gate Seed will appear, which must be planted on the planet. Cray shows them an image of a group of aliens who receive a Seed after waiting for several months. After Cray leaves, Kalos takes Pyotr aside and suggests that they take the aliens' Seed by force. Despite his reservations, Pyotr agrees and enlists Masha's help. The three of them take a flyer to the location of the aliens and demand that they hand of the Seed. A battle ensues, during which Masha uses her weapon to knock out three of the aliens, and Kalos uses a force field to push another off a cliff, but before that the alien manage to punch through the force field with its own weapon and set Kalos on fire from the inside. Pyotr beats the Seed carrier, then rushes over to Kalos, who dies within moments. Pyotr convinces the remaining alien to give up the Seed, but then changes his mind and returns it. However, the Seed somehow splits, and now both of them have it. They return to the others and give Kalos's body to Cray for burial. They leave the League planet, but Andrey is worried about Pyotr's obsession with the Seed. He suspect that Pyotr isn't the who one took it. Indeed, it becomes clear that a shard of Nik Rimer's personality has surfaced and took control of Pyotr, as it seed the Shadow as a way to save Homeland. It was Nik's desire that allowed Pyotr to take the Seed. When they reach the rogue planet, Nik takes the Geometer ship back to Homeland, leaving the others behind.
Upon arrival, Pyotr awakens and realizes they're under attack by other Geometer ships. The ship's computer refuses to accept the attack as real, causing Nik to surface once more and trick the computer into fighting back. Pyotr then convinces the computer to exceed the atmospheric speed limit by asking it whether it wants to do that. The ship ejects Pyotr near the White Sea boarding school and flying on to distract the pursuers. Pyotr hides under the snow until darkness, then infiltrates the school the same way as before, through the water conduit. In the greenhouse, he runs into one of the boys from the "difficult group" and convinces him to take him to their room. He tells the four boys who he really is and tries to get them to accept the Shadow, since Pyotr himself is unable to bring the Shadow to a world that isn't his. Then he learns that he was being expected. Nik's former superior, Commander Byg, walks into the room and tries to convince Pyotr to give him the Seed to destroy. He explains that he's been to the Shadow and was also given a Seed, which he destroyed. Then Nik's personality surfaces once more and drops the Seed. Pyotr (or rather the Kualkua) holds on to his, splitting the Seed again. As the Seed takes root and grows a Gate, Pyotr steps through it to the rogue planet. He explains to the others that Nik is gone for good.
With the Strong Races already gathered to decide Earth's future, no one knows what to do, since it would take too long to get to the meeting place or Earth in the League ship. Danilov suggests using the Kualkua to communicate with the Conclave. Pyotr convinces the Kualkua to go against its long-standing refusal to intervene, and the Kualkua forms a body for him on the planet where the Conclave is gathered to speak on Earth's behalf. Pyotr tells the Strong Races everything that has happened to him from the moment he met Karel. In the end, the Strong Races drop all the charges against the Weak Races involved in the conspiracy and send Pyotr away while they make a decision.
Some time later, Pyotr is under house arrest in his grandfather's home, walking the family dog in their yard. He gets a call from Danilov, who tells him that the Conclave has sent a ship to induct humanity into the ranks of the Strong Races, and they want Pyotr to negotiate as Earth's representative. Pyotr asks for another half hour to finish walking the dog and muses that the dog marking its territory is as important as the grand event that's about to happen.
