In a future where Mother Earth has cast her children to the distant stars to begin anew and colonize the cosmos, the planet remains depleted of natural resources. Its air polluted by caustic iron and belching smoke, Earth faces her last desperate days in the grip of global environmental collapse.

In one final and feeble effort, Earth's Grand President Makin musters the dregs of his fleet and sends three separate missions to the deepest reaches of space. Their mission: solicit help from the far-flung colonial civilizations, or watch the planet die.

ALSO INCLUDES THE SCIENCE FICTION STORIES "TOUGH OLD MAN" AND "BATTLING BOLTO"