 On one such island, Madelaine Holbright (initially a housewife) begins an affair with John Martin, an entomologist who is almost fatally stung by native termites which begin to display signs of intelligence.During his travels, Gagarin turns up further examples of "Earths" far away from the currently inhabited areas, with cities that have clearly been destroyed in nuclear war in the distant past.A character named Gregor Samsa seems to be highly connected with the US Government, and is later shown to be in fact an advanced alien termite with pheromone control, and is guiding the transplanted humanity towards nuclear destruction, to clear the path for the "mock aboriginal termites" that have previously stung Martin.