Forty-Nine days to Doomsday- The computer projections left no room for doubt- in seven weeks, so many of Earth's people would have gone murderously mad that civilization would collapse beyond any possibility of recovery. There was no known cause for the outbreak of insanity, and only dilettante Elias Kane had as much as a hunch about its origin. With his giant alien servant Pendrake, Kane was prepared to risk his life to solve the riddle of the plague of psychosis- but first he had to evade the madness of the planet he hoped to save!

HE IS THE IMPERATOR ...Gregory Amerdath, Master of Imperial Earth and the Eight Worlds Beyond. Even here, deep in his Imperial city of Chronos, in the safety of the Garden of the Nine Planets, he is protected by praetorian guards. His ever-watchful Ornyl bodyguard, Chuddath—a grotesque crossbreed of man and giant insect—stands eager to destroy any man who would mean his master harm. Yet it is Elias Kane to whom the Imperator turns for help... Elias Kane, Investigator, who vanquished the awesome evil of the Psychopath Plague. He is the Imperator, the most powerful force in the Empire... and someone is trying to kill him.

Kane and Pendrake Space Detectives... Elias Kane: ex-member of the Space Navy, gambler, private eye, he's the consummate - though unwilling - hero to billions of citizens on dozens of worlds. Now Briana, the new Imperator, sends him on a dangerous mission to the colony planet of Cassiodorus, where three imperial inspectors have already disappeared while inspecting the planet's vital beta-steel mines. Once there, Kane and his resourceful ally, the giant Cephantine named Pendrake, become the targets of ruthless rebel assassins. And what they discover about the powerful, unfriendly inhabitants of the alien frontier world is more deadly than mere murder - but could mean the destruction of Earth