Eddy, his brother Joseph, Bruce and Billy spent decades in frozen sleep within an arcology dug out of a mountain in southeast Montana. The world has been devastated by nuclear, biological and chemical warfare. Even so, it is begining to recover and that has triggered their awakening. A run-in with some large, tough humaoids cost them two of their friends and put them on the run.

On the plains just south of the Big Snowy Mountains in central Montana the four of them came upon a ringed city called a Poliseum. The Polis is approximately 300 meters wide and 30 meters high. It consists of five tiers, each 5 meters high and 10 meters deep. At the top are 4 large towers. The whole city has been damaged and crudely repaired. There is a siege ramp on the west side and the surrounding countryside is full of crop fields in poor condition.

A nearby cave yielded an old memory disc from the city's early days, just after the meltdown that wiped out most of humanity. The memory disc stated that the polis contained a radio that could possibly monitor their communications so they were ordered by their base to go in and retrieve it.

While resting in a long abandoned room they were attacked by the inhabitants of the city. They are humans but something about them doesn't look quite right. Joseph has remained outside in case the mission failed.