Laureline is horrified to discover that the real Valérian has gone and the clones with him. Leaving the ship, she is faced with a vista of devastation – the corpses of the Valérian clones piled high on the battlefield around her. Searching the corpses to see if the real Valérian is among them, she is close to despair when she finds the real Valérian alive and well asleep in a bombed out house. They head for the Alien's ship where they find the Alien and Jadna deep in conversation. Laureline demands that their astroship be released. Jadna accuses Laureline of being uncouth. Laureline retorts that all the periods of history the Alien examined showed Earth's past at its worst – a past that will eventually lead to the events of 1986 seen in The City of Shifting Waters. Leaving Jadna with the Alien and telling her that she can call Galaxity when she's ready to return, Laureline and Valérian take off in the astroship. Valérian is still in need of recuperation, and Laureline decides to take him to the real 1881 for a holiday. Main characters Valérian, a spatio-temporal agent from Galaxity, future capital of Earth, in the twenty-eighth century Laureline, originally from France in the eleventh century, now a spatio-temporal agent of Galaxity in the twenty-eighth century Jadna, a specialist historian from Galaxity The Alien, mysterious creator of the artificial Earths. Setting Various unspecified locations in space in which the Alien has constructed his dioramas of Earth history. Simulations visited include: Sittanavasal, India, near Trichy in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is best known as the site of an ancient Jain monastery. London, England, Pall Mall. The club that Valérian enters is the Athenæum Club at 107, Pall Mall. It's rather surprising that Valérian finds Gladstone there – as a member of the Liberal Party, he would more likely be found in either the Reform Club or the National Liberal Club. San Francisco, California, USA, Chinatown, 1895. Paris, France during the Belle Epoque of the late nineteenth century, till World War I. World War I, an unspecified battle involving trench warfare, in France. We also see various other simulations created by the alien including: the Vatican City, the Forum, the Sphinx, the Pyramids, the Blue Mosque and the statues at Easter Island. In addition, the Alien tells Jadna that he has constructed some ancient cities near Denebola in