Far back in the legends of planet Orbos, the ancestors of the present day ambens learned how to create life. They deposited their "seed of life" on a tiny blue planet in the Milky Way Galaxy and have been watching it evolve ever since. At about the same time they realized that the amben species was doing great harm to their planet's life-support system. So they came up with a specific way to live in total harmony with their natural world. By implementing this new way of life across the planet, they have been able to sustain a viable way of life for a million of their years without going extinct. However, not all ambens buy into all these sustainability ideas and at times the tension grows into turmoil. Tryon is one of the most respected ambens on the whole planet of Orbos. You can see why in the way he responds to crises, lovingly tends his garden, calms the irate, plays like a teenager, and confronts detractors of the Earth Project, of which he is the Director. At the lab he and his team spend their days monitoring life on Earth as it evolves in quick motion. Sorone, one of Tryon's analysts, seems to be able to communicate with humans using brain waves. She recognizes the spiritual side of the humans she watches daily. But she can be called on in a pinch to help save the project from disaster. Gushum, the youngest member of the team, contributes greatly to their cause in spite of his playful nature. He is a quick learner, figures out how to make things work, and quickly surpassed the others with his technical savvy. He also tends to get into trouble with his boss. Together the members of the Earth Project team follow the course of human folly and respond to it emotionally. The institute, where the Earth Project lab is located, spreads out on a hillside across the lake from the central square in the village of Krotin. The businesses that surround the square are small, family-owned, and low tech. The zip rail that provides transportation to the rest of the planet, however, is high tech, as are the omnipresent communication clusters. Everyone lives in residential clusters that surround the village center; farms and gardens surround that. Everything is a short walk away, so there is no motorized transport within Krotin itself. It's not just their lifestyle that enables sustainability; the layout of their living spaces is an important part of it as well.