 The upper levels of the Patrol are starting to realise that the beings that they have been calling pirates are actually members of another civilization, a civilization at least as big and as powerful as that of the Galactic Patrol.Having beaten off the pirate fleet attacking The Hill, it was time to cut off the head of the dragon by defeating the corrupt political machine in the next election.The second half of the book tells of a North American presidential election fought by the officers of the Triplanetary Service (as 'Cosmocrats') to elect Roderick Kinnison North American President, and the crooked political machine (as 'Nationalist') to keep the corrupt incumbent in office.