Steward Peter Kolin made himself inconspicuous. All things considered—the obscure star system they were stranded in, the undetermined damage to the stellar drive, and the way the small planet's murky atmosphere defied precision scanners—the pilot made a reasonably good landing. Despite sour feelings for the space service of Haurtoz, Kolin had to admit that things might have been far worse. They were going to get worse. Much, much worse . . .