 Which lingering effect of the Ryzgas' downfall makes life challenging for people like Var and Neena?
But its outward perils could not compare with the Ryzgas themselves, who slept within, ready to wake and conquer.... Now, if her father and his kinsmen overtook them, it would be death for Var, and for Neena living shame. Warming to the old man now, Var sketched his and Neena's history briefly. "Because of them we must build with dreams instead of iron, and our only fire is that of the Sun, and even now, two thousand years later, the Earth is still slowly recovering from the pangs and poison of that age. Meanwhile they redoubled the yoke and the punishments, hastening the completion of the last of the starships. "Some of the Ryzgas took flight to the stars, and some perished on Earth.
 The Ryzgas destroyed or used up all of their materials, so Var and Neena's people can only construct things with their dreams
 The Ryzgas littered the planet with wreckage of their old creations, which renders it inhabitable  The Ryzgas destroyed or used up all of their materials, so Var and Neena's people can only construct things with their dreams  The Ryzgas manipulate the entire planet through their Control Center, so all outcomes are predestined  The Ryzgas toxified the environment, which has caused a genetic mutation among their descendants