Bryan Steward, a former U.S. Navy Seal unsung hero of the Vietnam War who earned the ire of his superiors by starting to ask why instead of how high when ordered to jump, and his unbeknownst to him, alien, shape changing tiger cat, Shagrags, are sailing from San Diego, California, to the Galapagos Islands when three aliens board Bryan’s sailboat, toss him and Shagrags into a huge bubble and descend five miles deep into the ocean. Once inside the alien’s headquarters in an active, underwater volcano, Bryan is put on trial in the Hall of Judgment for the sins of humanity against humanity, especially its children, and against Mother Nature. If found guilty, the aliens will combine their technology with the forces of nature, including Earth’s sentient marine life, to exterminate the human race and claim Earth as their own. The aliens have combined telepathy with teleportation to search the galaxies for centuries because the sun of their home planet, Arthania, is nearing supernova. The only planet they’ve found suitable for migration is Earth. But during the 100 years they’ve spent below Earth’s oceans, constructing facilities that use the heat of volcanos to raise the temperature of ocean currents while observing the actions of mankind, have convinced Arthanians the two species cannot co-exist.