Orlando, Count of Madelaine, Consort of the Emperor, and cokeeper of the keys to the Gates of Time, begins his story on a day when he lived as a count in a French chateau on Earth. A future Earth, much of which is a living museum, as is his region of Madelaine. His life is perfect, he is naturally promiscuous, and so are most residents of Madelaine.
Then, in this perfect society, a young woman is found deadâ€"murdered. And it’s Count Orlando’s job to determine how she died and who was responsible. The decisions Orlando makes when he finally discovers the truth will force him to leave Madelaine.
He moves into the present real world for a while but shortly is able to live out a childhood dream and become one of those in the first group to meet with the race of intelligent aliens who have just been discovered.
What Orlando, a lonely man now searching for purpose in his life, does as part of that first contact group takes him into the heart of an alien civilization and changes the fate of not only humanity, but one day will also change the future for all the inhabitants of the galaxy.
In this memoir Orlando talks about only the private parts of his own life since the day the woman was murdered. As he says, he does not talk of battle fleets and the fall of powerful families, he talks about what has become of him because of decisions he made, and can never regret makingâ€"and of love and duty.
