In the year 1264 three young people come into information that the Earth will be destroyed by collision with an interstellar planet in a thousand years. They also learn that in the next year a leading reformer, the father of one of the three, will die in battle, setting back the progress of human history by 400-500 years, a margin great enough to enable people a thousand years later to save Earth. They must cause the battle to go the other way, and use that to launch still greater reforms that will set history on a fast course to planetary defense.
Thereafter they must build on the reforms that had been begun, introducing new laws, public and private institutions, customs, and practices, making new discoveries, and advancing human progress from the 13th century, through the Renaissance, the Enlightenment, industrialization, and the information age. They have to do that, however, not by just giving the world what they had learned, but by leading teams of people into discovering it anew.
In the course of this they have to overcome resistance from conquerors, entrenched tradition, ignorance, and fear of change. They make many enemies who try to destroy them. they must also prepare people to survive several major calamities that cannot be avoided.
Two of the three have superior abilities, but not superpowers. They have revelations, but must work out the details for themselves. However, they do win the support of loyal followers, who make everything else possible. They also have opportunities that existed in their time and never before.
If all of this reads like the design for a computer simulation game, or a plot for a multi-part television mini-series, it is not an accident.
In this book the reader will meet many interesting characters, many from history, although as history takes a different course, it also changes the characters and the roles they play.
