spine creasing, edge wear; Evan Larkspur dreamed of greater glory than his play writing could ever bring him. But his newfound career as officer on a star-survey mission ended in disaster almost as soon as it had begun. And when he returned home, the only survivor of a freak accident that had flung his ship out of known space, he found that a century had passed - and though Larkspur the playwright was now famous, Larkspur the explorer was a wanted man. Buried in his memory was the fate of his ship; hidden on his person was the star-access data that would have been worth several fortunes - if it were not scrambled beyond repair. The repressive First Column government coveted that data and would not hesitate to strip Larkspur's mind in an attempt to decipher it. There was nothing a deceased playwright or a vanished explorer could do against the Column. And so Larkspur fled to the fringe worlds, hiding his identity, intent only on survival - until, on an obscure planet called Newcount Two, he discovered a powerful legacy he never knew he had . . .