In The New World, the Arctic Utopian community founded at the end of The Human Microbes by Dr. Gaël, comprised of the victims of tyranny rescued by Captain Josiah and his "phantom brig," is threatened by the evil Judge Roll Wolff, intent on destroying it to cover his crimes... In 1883, the notorious anarchist Louise Michel (1830-1905) was sentenced to six years of solitary confinement; effectively deprived of communication, she had had no refuge but writing. It is during that time that she penned The Human Microbes (published in 1887), as a distraction from her awful circumstances. It was followed by a sequel, The New World, published in a truncated form in 1988, due to Michel being shot in the head that year. Both are modeled on the classic feuilleton serials of the 1840s and were intended to be part of a six-novel series, in which Mankind would build a new utopia on Earth before moving out into space.