The monstrous Gerns had left them to die—left them on a hell-world of gigantic wolf-like prowlers, of 1.5 gravity that dragged at aching bodies, and seasons that withered life or froze it. It was unthinkable that they could strike back at the Gerns 200 light years away. It was impossible that they could even survive. Impossible. This novelette was first published in the March 1957 issue of Venture Science Fiction and is the first entry in Tom Godwin's Ragnarök series.

Crushing gravity, thin air, freezing winter, searing summer under two suns. A deadly wasteland teems with monsters and fatal fever. A thousand untrained Earth men, women and children are brutally marooned on the planet Ragnarok by a sadistic enemy. That night, 200 die. In the morning, survivors decide what they will live for - revenge. The Survivors aka Space Prison. Included in Cold Equations.

In three bloody years, Ragnarok survivors ended the Gern Empire and freed Earth and the Athena colony. But Earthers fear and hate the great strength and speed bred over generations under heavy gravity that won the victory. Now a new threat strikes Ragnarok and the rest of mankind refuses to help.