Toyon was a Terran, powerful in his own sector of the galaxy, but here on the planet of Hoep-Hanninah, he was a tourist who did not speak the language. Toyon was a brilliant man, but to the apelike, expressionless natives of this planet, he was a threat. Toyon had a dream he was determined to realize: to travel to the ruined city in the north and explore it. But the Hanninah were as determined to thward him; for in the path of his expedition to the ruins lay the secret of their survival.