After his parents are killed on the dangerous planet Perdide, young Piel survives by maintaining radio contact with Jaffar, a pilot transporting the exiled Prince Matton and Princess Belle from their former kingdom. Jaffar seeks the help of Silbad, a cheerful old-timer who knows how to circumvent Perdide's hazards, including brain-devouring insects and watery graves. Along the way, Jaffar and company encounter a pair of impish homunculi stowaways, identity-less angels controlled by an amorphous hive mind, and the Masters of Time, mysterious beings who can bend reality and perhaps reveal to the heroes their secret origins and destinies.
