Tangean noble Lord Angstrom tries to get Mira to wed Fop Doppler, a fairly minor member of the Tangean noble clique (and fairly snooty) so as to provide a distraction as a band of Tangean ""Grounders"" attack and allow for Lord Angstrom to overthrow Mira's father. The Grounders are a humanoid race that shares the planet Tangea with the race that Mira is native to. While the blue-skinned, svelte, and fairly bourgeois Tangeans (""Tangean Blue-bloods"") have the psychic ability to phase through solid objects (...aka...""ghosting""...), the taupe-skinned, stocky, and fairly proletarian Tangeans (""Tangean Grounders"") have the psychic ability to project focused force-blasts (...aka...""boom-boom""...). For some reason, the native psychic abilities of both Tangean races are nullified if either race is in close proximity to the other.

In hopes of avoiding marriage, Mira invokes a law requiring Fop to submit to a ""Challenge of Worth"". She selects Ranger Academy basic training

A Buzz from 150 years in the future arrives to prevent Mira from being killed.