In the asteroid belt, a space tug crew performs the dangerous, exacting work of capturing a newly anchored rock, timing its spin and docking over its pole with practiced precision. Jack and Harry's labor reveals a frontier where survival depends on skill, teamwork, and the hard mathematics of microgravity, and where each asteroid means oxygen, raw materials, and the future of the Belt Cities. Yet the real collision is political: Harry Morgan, a Commodore from the Belt, arrives on Earth and immediately exposes the absurdity of a rigid Welfare State that has outlawed courtesy titles and confused status with worth. Morgan's calm wit and deliberate provocations draw out hidden tensions between Earth and the Belt, whose mutual dependence masks a growing fear of rupture. A meeting with the polished, cautious Edward Tarnhorst deepens the mystery surrounding the death of Commodore Jack Latrobe, while Morgan carefully conceals what he knows. As spies circle, a hotel room is turned into a deadly trap and an intruder is mutilated by concealed mechanisms, proving that in this world of espionage and leverage, competence can be as lethal as any weapon. This edition has been fully restored with modern typesetting, custom cover design.

À propos de l'auteur

Garrett, Randall

Randall Garrett was an American writer whose career flourished in the lively mid-century world of science fiction and fantasy, where his sharp wit, inventive imagination, and fondness for clever ideas made him a distinctive voice. Born in 1927 and working during a period when genre fiction was expanding rapidly, he built a reputation through magazine stories, novels, and collaborations that blended mystery, adventure, satire, and speculative invention. He was especially gifted at creating brisk, entertaining narratives that also played with logic, social custom, and the expectations of readers, which helped his work stand out in an era crowded with talent. Across his fiction, Garrett returned often to themes of intelligence, adaptation, human ingenuity, and the comic absurdities of power and bureaucracy, giving his stories a lightness that still carries real insight. His work remains relevant today because it captures both the optimism and the anxieties of technological change, while reminding readers that humor can be a powerful way to explore serious questions about society and the future. Garrett’s legacy lies in his ability to make speculative fiction feel playful without losing its edge, and readers who enjoy smart, fast-moving stories with a mischievous sense of fun will find much to admire in his work.