A noble being, tall with shiny multicoloured segments, compound eyes, and two enormous insectoid wings, stands guard at the gate to the solar system of Tellus - keeping the force-shield in place with his mind, aided by technology incomprehensible to lesser sentient beings. No ships can pass. This is the story of how the Corruption infected the Universe, and how human beings became the most despised species of all in the worlds of the 99.