Imagine an empire of the far future, dictatorial, proud, all-conquering, whose citizens could defy it at will by merely entering a store and buying a gun! The Shops arm and defend the free people against their formidable ruler. The defense of the Shops is about to crumble, McAllister, a reporter from the twentieth century, is hurled through a vast time-warp to 4785 as the fabric of space-time begins to shred...