Archeologists discover a machine buried near the site of the Great Pyramid at Giza, where it was hidden by ancient extraterrestrials many thousands of years ago, and after careful examination it is learned that the machine has the capability of "seeing" into the past. A major struggle ensues between governments who wish to obtain the Time Ocular and the archeologists who found it. Beginning in the region of the middle east, where the Great Pyramid was built, the story moves to Chicago, Illinois, and then Sedona, Arizona, where it is believed by many that the famous Bell Rock is one of the oldest surviving remnants of another ancient pyramid, built long before civilization as we know it ever thrived. The story is woven around the theory of one of the solar systems most profound and catastrophic events, when Jupiter was struck by a massive comet that ripped a chuck of the great planet from its body and sent it into orbit around the Sun between the Earth and Mercury, forming the newest planet, Venus. It describes the destruction of the surface of Mars as the newly formed planet passed, bombarding Mars with mountain sized pieces of itself and explaining why that planet suddenly died and how some of Mars' survivors managed to escape and make Earth their home.