In 1492, Columbus discovered America and in 1992 Claude Regan had to make it happen again! The U.S. needed a shot in the arm as the 20th Century went into its last decade—and a World's Fair celebrating 500 years of American civilization might turn the trick. The President put the whole job in the lap of the trickiest, most ruthless promoter in the country—Claude Regan. And the first thing Regan realized was that Earth wasn't big enough to hold the kind of Fair he wants. . . . . . so he built a new world.

Against the night sky, the nearly completed World’s Fair Satellite gleamed like a shiny new penny. You could see it even with low-powered field glasses as it moved in its stately orbit around the Earth: a giant copper-hued globe, the biggest space satellite ever constructed. The Fair’s opening day—October 12, 1992—was only some six weeks away. And in very much less time than that, Bill Hastings was going to be up there to begin his year in space. From every loudspeaker in Denver Spaceport came the booming message: “Attention, passengers for Flight 100 Special Transit to the World’s Fair. Boarding has now begun…” Often inaccurately stated to be a rewrite of Regan's Planet (1964), but this is really a sequel.