On December 28th, 3458, the whole Sol system is suddenly isolated from the rest of the universe. An unpassable hyperdimensional veil covers all the system and prevents anyone inside from communicating to the outside. The ships can no longer travel to distant systems and linear travel is unoperative, while inside communications are undisturbed. Perry Rhodan makes a short intervention on the TV to sum up the situation and confesses the scientists think a greater power is currently making them a demonstration.

Alaska Saedalaere, the alien with a Cappin implant in his face, is joining Imperium Alpha, where all the mutants have been called back. He is startled to find an extraterrestrian in his room, who introduces himself as Calloberian, a Xysrapen.

Calloberian pretends he, and all those of his race, is able to see the stars, even though nobody in the Sol system can. He pretends he can switch between the dimensions, thanks to a special organ, not unlike the Laurins flexorgan. As the scientists are trying to figure out how he can achieve this, on the 5th of January, the stars appear again. Shortly after, a mysterious spheric ship suddenly materializes  in orbit around the Earth. At first, the ship doesn't seem to be willing to land and keeps orbitting the Earth.

Rhodan finally makes contact with the unknown ship. It is piloted by Hotrenor-Taak, a Laren, who seems to know Perry Rhodan and the human race fairly well. The Larens come from the NGC 3190 galaxy, 21 million light-years away from Sol. He is the representative of the Council (or Hetos) of the Seven, which gathers seven galaxies. The Council wants the Milky Way to join them, with Perry Rhodan as the First Hetran. When Rhodan replies that he doubts that all the peoples in the Milky Way would accept this nomination, Hotrenor-Taak says the Council supports First Hetrans with all their power if need be.

In order to impress the Terrans, Hotrenor-Taak asks them to test his energy shield. It quickly turns out that none of the Terran weapons can shake the energy shield of his ship. After the first blasts, the initially 500 meter wide round ship swells to reach 5000 meters and takes a yellowish, bright hue. The energy shield seems to be made of pure energy, which leads the Terran scientists to coin the term "Energy cell shield", EC-Shield [Struktur-Variablen-Energiezellen Raumer or SVE Raumer. I am at a loss translating accurately this term... --Cedric]

Shocked, Rhodan decides to allow the Laren to land in Terrania. He will pretend he accepts to enter the Hetos of the Seven until he learns more about this EC-Shield, and also on the other races involved in the Council.

The Laren ship lands and Hotrenor-Taak appears before the Terrans for the first time. He says the Council is currently holding a meeting in their galaxy, and invites Rhodan to join them there in order to be introduced to the other six members. Pressed by the Terranian TV, broadcasting the event galaxy-wide, Rhodan is urged to answer immediately. He turns the offer down, saying that nobody in the Council ever considered asking him his opinion.

Hotrenor-Taak is very surprised and retires to think the matter further. Meanwhile, reactions from the various peoples in the Milky Way start to arrive to Terrania, and they are essentially in favor of the nomination of Rhodan as the First Hetran. Rhodan still can't resign himself to it. He eventually agrees to go to Hotrenor-Taak's home galaxy, but accompanied.

He informs Hotrenor-Taak he wants to travel on board of one of his corvettes, inside the Laren's ship. He also gives him a list of people that will join him, among which Icho Tolot, Alaska Saedalaere, Gucky and Calloberian. Hotrenor-Taak is not surprised by all the names he reads, except for Calloberian, whom he admits he does not know. Rhodan explains that the Xisrapen is able to see the stars despite the protection field the Larens used recently over the Sol system. Hotrenor-Taak accepts Rhodan's conditions.

The MC8 corvette is brought into the Laren ship, which then takes off. Shortly after, Hotrenor-Taak comes to see his guests and invites them to visit the ship. He also informs them that the meeting will not take place in the NGC-3190 galaxy, as initially planned, but in the void between the galaxies, on the planet Hetossa, second planet a seven-planet system, revolving around the Hartzon star. This unexpected change makes the Terrans more suspicious about the Laren's intentions.

Shortly before they land on Hetossa, a Laren named Muskenor-Aart joins them on board and informs them about the planet, which capital is called Mivtrav. Hotrenor-Taak tells Rhodan that for now, he will only deal with the Larens and will not get to meet the other members of the Council. Furthermore, the discussion makes Rhodan think that the Larens might be aware of Rhodan's recent interactions with IT and Anti-IT. Questioned about this, Hotrenor-Taak admits he knows about these facts but won't say more.

Hotrenor-Taak then alludes to the fact that Rhodan would have to disarm all the Solar Fleet, along with all the armed forces of the other races, in order for the Milky Way to join the Council. Rhodan is shocked by this demand but remains imperturbable, as Hotrenor-Taak seems to be confident that he will answer positively.

The Terrans are brought to their apartments. Fearing for their safety if he refused the Laren's offer, Rhodan decides to pretend he will accept all their demands. He sends the teleporters in reconnaissance, hoping to learn more about the city before the conference begins.

After a few teleportations, Gucky and Tschubai discover a raging fight opposing two Laren armies. Forces coming from the capital are surrounding a group of Larens fighting for their lives. Gucky teleports back to the city and brings Rhodan back on the battlefield. They kidnap one of the soldiers and question him. Before he dies, the Laren says he's part of a resistance movement. They wanted to take advantage of the arrival of the Terrans to make a demonstration to the Council. He says the Council are merciless beasts that enslave people. He asks Rhodan to rescue Roctin-Par, their leader, who is about to be captured. Should this happen, there would be nobody left to question the authority of the Council.

The teleporters eventually locate the rebels base and are able to rescue Roctin-Par before the Larens take over. Unfortunately, Calloberian dies during the battle. Roctin-Par is brought back to the Terrans apartments and explains Rhodan that they're opposing the dictatorial ruling of the Larens. Questioned about the exact motivations of the rebels, Roctin-Par refuses to answer.

On the Earth, the other Xisrapens realize that Calloberian might be dead, since they are no longer in mental contact with her (Calloberian actually turns out to be a female). However, she might also be simply pretending, they can't tell.

Meanwhile, on Hetossa, Rhodan prepares to meet the Council.