Earth has become a library planet for thousands of years, a bastion of both useful and useless knowledge¡ªesoterica of all types, history, science, politics¡ªgathered by teams of ¡°pack rats¡± who scour the galaxy for any scrap of information. Knowledge is power, knowledge is wealth, and knowledge can be a weapon. As powerful dictators come and go over the course of history, the cadre of dedicated librarians is sworn to obey the lawful government . . . and use their wits to protect the treasure trove of knowledge they have collected over the millennia.