This science fiction novel takes place in the year 2203. A rogue planet, populated by strange machines known as Pyramids, has stolen the Earth from the Solar system, taking it off into interstellar space. The global population has crashed to a hundred million, due largely to the radical climate changes that followed the arrival of the alien planet. Most of the surviving humans are 'Citizens, ' passive people living lives bound up with elaborate social rituals, various styles of meditation, and carefully prescribed selflessness