On Derai's home planet, Dumarest had hoped to meet a living witness to Earth. But instead he finds himself in the lists of the deadly Contest on Folgone - with the Lady of Caldor as prize.
And on Folgone, for the first time, Dumarest confronts the Cybers: ruthless, emotionless tools of a great Gestalt which holds the mighty of the universe in its grip - a power which may yet provide him with the key to his quest for Earth.