When slippery Jim diGriz broke out so spectacularly from prison and found himself on the run on a planet so primitive it didn't even have the imagination to call itself anything except Planet (in the local lingo, of course), almost the last thing on his mind was joining the army. Thoughts of revenge on Captain Garth, the man responsible for his predicament, were uppermost. But one thing led to another and Captain Garth turned out to be General Zennor and General Zennor's defensive action was really a full-scale invasion. And somehow Jim seems to be the only thing standing between a small, defenceless planet and annihilation. Unfair odds, really—one Stainless Steel rat against a merciless tyrant and his heavily armed troops. Zennor doesn't stand a chance...