Two scientists--linguist Wendy Ahearn and an astrophysicists Corey Newton--are hired to decode an alien artifact found at a UFO crash site in 1953. From a secret base the base in an Arizona mountain Colonel Pete Mitchell aids Newton and Ahearn in their mission to decode the artifact. Time is critical and failure could doom human civilization as we know it. The President, a dying general who discovered it, and Pete's team are the only people who know the artifact exists. At least, that's what they believe. Farrell takes the reader to the ancient Sumerian culture where humans displayed a quantum leap in mathematics and human development, as if tutored by a higher form. The author also tackles the present as higher beings watch over humankind to make sure to avert annihilation via newfound discovery of nuclear power.