Yvernia. Crowning the volcanic rocks of the island of a distant planet, the high walls shelter this gigantic city. A protectionist community has prospered there for years in luxury and technology, far from the gaze of the galactic authorities. Those who are excluded must live on what they can find, or on what they are given. They are condemned to survive on the other side of the fortifications that defend the city against the whims of nature and undesirables. Only one place allows them to have dry feet : a strip of sand a few hundred meters long covered with makeshift shelters. Its inhabitants call it the Beach