In the near future, Norman Perseus (Perse) Grant, eighteen, the son of an engineer on a transporter project, is given the chance to beam from Tacoma, Washington, to Reno, Nevada. Perse is slated to go with three celebrities—Carmella Martinez, Jack Miller, and Ronny McFarlane. They have skills in sports. Perse doesn't.

Things go wrong when their carrier signal intertwines with that of a carrier signal from another planet. The four travelers end up on a distant world, Nario Seven. Ronny is killed by a soldier, and Perse, Carmella, and Jack are captured by a warlord, Quaggon.

Quaggon gives them a choice—retrieve an energy source that his people desperately need—or die. It isn't much of a choice, so the three set out for a fortress city, guided by a soldier named Matsuge.

Succeed or die. There is no other way.