His name was Sandor and he was the owner and entire crew of a tramp star-freighter that flew the Union planets under falce papers and fake names.

Her name was Allison and she was a proud but junior member of the powerful family whose mighty starship Dublin Again, was the true queen of the spaceways.

They met at Viking Station, she seeking a night's dalliance, he desparately in search of a spacer assistant.

Their fateful meeting was to lead to a record-breaking race to Downbelow Station, thereby catching the calculating eye of the grim commander of the Alliance Spacecraft, Norway, and a terrifying showdown at a deadly destination off the cosmic charts.