Onboard the Oberon space station, an astronaut named Leo Davidson worked closely with chimpanzees and orangutans who were trained to serve as 'guinea-pigs' for particularly dangerous exploration missions in space. His favourite chimpanzee was Pericles. Pericles learned from training simulators and was rewarded with treats when he achieved his objectives. Leo was summoned to the command deck of the space station where a new situation had emerged; a giant electromagnetic storm. The storm sent all of the radio and television broadcasts of Earth out toward the Oberon. The Oberon's commander decided to send out a chimp - Pericles - to see if conditions were safe to send out human pilots to explore the storm.