Getting back to Earth from the planet Tschai involved either stealing a spaceship or having one built to order—for Tschai was home to several intelligent star-born races, and so they had spaceyards. But Adam Reith's problem was not so simple.

He'd already been lucky to escape the Chasch and the Wankh and a dozen different types of humans, and now his course led directly to the Grand Sivishe Spaceyards in the domains of the Dirdir.

But the Dirdir were quite different from the other aliens who competed for this world. They were quicker, more sinister, and had an unrelenting thirst for hunting victims like Adam Reith. The closer he came to his objective, the keener their hunting instincts would become.