Since the late 25th century, Earth's population has skyrocketed, and the face of our blue planet has been transformed into a complex grid of concrete, polymers and steel. Oxygen trickles into the atmosphere by virtue of precious biospheres that dot the skies in a suspended fragile mesh several miles above the surface. Humans toil and commute along side the masses of alien races that have since inhabited Earth's centres. Together they have concocted the most voluble and copious of environments known to mankind since the Garden of Eden. At the turn of the fourth millennium, pessimistic speculation led philosophers to believe that Earth was bound for troubled times and that great suffering would engulf the helpless inhabitants. As usual, they were wrong. In fact, in the years following the brutish skirmishes near the Orion Nebula, a strong feeling of general well being seemed to permeate even into the darkest corners of parliament, where a wild and daring decision concerning the treatment of prisoners was made; a chance for freedom that would supply the Galaxy with an extraordinary new form of entertainment ... THE PIT.