As supervisor of interstellar material's Deepdig #2 mining colony, Barton Kinsolving is one of the most important humans in the galaxy. For Deepdig is one of mankind's only sources for samarium salts - that rare mineral essential for interstellar travel - grudgingly leased to mankind by the despised Lorr.

Barton Kinsloving was a mining engineer, not a spacefaring adventurer - until on the mining planet deepdig he stumbled across interstellar materials horrifying secret scheme for planetary genocide.

Barton Kinsolving tries to find and stop Cameron, an interstellar assassin, from setting loose a deadly DNA-unraveling virus